Old Friend
by Wapwap
Summary: Canard is back and is working for Dragauns, who has him under some kind of mind control. It turns into a lot of trouble for two certain ducks. WW/M
1. Chapter 1

I don't own the Might Ducks.

I would like to apologize for all of the grammar and errors in this. I have gone over it again and I think I found everything. Let me know if there is something else that needs to be fixed.

Rate M

Old Friend

Chapter 1:

Mallory sat at the controls to Drake One, checking for any signs of activity from Dragaunus. The whole team was in another state sponsoring a charity for a kids foundation. Mallory couldn't go because of she had caught a stomach bug and she had just gotten a call from Wildwing letting her know that they wouldn't be back for another 4 days. She was fine now and she didn't mind the peace and quiet but it was getting boring! Wildwing wouldn't let her go and ordered her to take it easy. If there were signs of Dragaunus she was supposed to contact him immediately and wait for the team before engaging them in battle.

"Of all the times for old lizard lips to be quiet it had to be now." Just then Drake One's alarm went off. Mallory started typing and found a huge teleportation energy signal.

Mallory turned on her com and tried to contact Wildwing. "Guys come in!... Guys?" Nothing. No one was answering. She tried again only to get the same result. "Damn! Well I can't not respond." She said to herself as she ran to her Duck Cycle. She threw on her helmet and took off for the energy signature. She would continue to try and get a hold of the team on the drive there.

…..

A tan drake stood on the edge of a tall brown building in downtown Anaheim, wearing a black mask and black battle gear. Looking down at his com he watched as his target approached. Dragaunus had order the death of this human cop that was helping the Mighty Ducks and had caused the down fall of several plans. So this Klegghorn had to go, simple as that. The car was approaching target zone when he heard the familiar sound of a Duck Cycle. One of those Mighty Ducks had arrived. He looked over to where he had heard it and saw the red haired female named Mallory coming. She was cute. Too bad she had to choose now to arrive. Once the cop was done, he'd take off, unless she tried to stop him and without a doubt she would, then she would become his next target.

The bomb he conveniently placed in the road would go off the moment he hit the trigger. With all of the chaos he might be able to leave without engaging her in a fight.

Mallory approached downtown where the signal was coming from. She parked her bike across the street from a tall brown building. "This is where the signal has been coming from." She approached it to get a better view. She eyes traveled up the building to find a tan duck standing there, holding some sort of remote! "Well if someone is here from Puckworld that can only mean that Dragaunus was the one that brought them here!" Looking over to what he was watching she saw captain Klegghorn's car approaching a black box in the middle of the road. "It's a bomb!" She pulled out her gun and aimed for the hand holding the trigger and fired.

The Tan duck didn't see the shot but heard it and before he could do anything the trigger was knocked from his hand. It hurt his wrist a little but besides that nothing. He turned to look at where he knew the shot came from only to have to dodge another and press himself against the building while he pulled out his secondary trigger. "Always come prepared." The car had just driven over the bomb, he hit the trigger and the bomb went off blowing up only the back end of the car, flipping it over. The cop was still alive though so the job was not done, he had to get that cop while fighting Mallory.

He attached the grappling hook to the side of the building and jumped down, letting it carry him to the ground. Mallory moved in on his position fast while the cop was struggling to get out of the burning vehicle. Deciding to deal with Mallory first he pulled out his gun holstered on his left thigh, leaving the right gun for emergencies and turned the corner to go in for the attack only to get kicked in the face by a female foot. His metal mask took most of the impact but his head snapped back from the blow, causing him to lose sight of his target for a moment. She used it to her advantage and disarmed him of his gun, throwing it far from the fight. She was good.

Attempting to pin his arms behind his back, she underestimated his strength and was stunned for a moment when he grabbed her from behind his back and threw her over his head into a parked car. She hit it hard enough to set off the alarms and dent in the side door. Sliding to the ground after the hit she felt dizzy for a moment but shook it off seeing that the duck was approaching a pinned Klegghorn.

Getting to her feet she dashed at him feeling like she wasn't moving fast enough. The duck pulled out another gun and was aiming a Klegghorn's head when Mallory jumped on him. Wrapping her legs around his torso, she used her body weight to throw the duck far from Klegghorn and down the street. "Klegghorn! You okay?"

Klegghorn had never been so grateful to see one of the ducks. "No! I'm calling backup!" Looking around he saw that she was the only one there! "Where are the others ducks! Where's Wildwing!"

Mallory looked over to see the other duck recovering faster than expected. "Their out of town. I can't get a hold of them."

"Great! Just when they actually need to be here!" Klegghorn yelled, he was about to continue his rant when the other duck attacked Mallory. She fought him off and away from Klegghorn. She had no idea just how grateful the police captain was that she was there but he wasn't about to tell her.

Mallory continued to hold the duck off until she heard the sound of back up in the form of police sirens. The duck hearing this choose to try to make his exit, but Mallory blocked his path. He faked to hit her with a right arm but instead brought up his right knee into her gut and pinned her to a nearby car that was parked along the street. Grabbing his holstered gun on his right thigh, he didn't even bother to pull it out but instead just fired in its holster. The bullet shot through his holster and right into Mallory's left side, below her ribs. Mallory cried out and slide to the ground next to the car. Seeing her down the tan duck dove over the hood and made his escape.

Mallory grabbed her side and stood, intending to go after him. She was about to jump over the car he went over, only to see a puck grenade come from the shadows and land next to the car that she was behind. "Fuck!" She jumped back as fast as possible but was still caught in the blast from the grenade and the exploding car. She could feel the flames lick at her feathers as she sailed through the air into another parked car. _"Ouch. This just isn't my day."_ Seeing that the cops were approaching the sight of the burning vehicle they searched the wreckage and surrounding area for the tan duck that had attacked the police captain. Mallory stood and saw that she wasn't bleeding from where she was shot. Must be clogged by the bullet she thought to herself, nothing she couldn't handle. She approached Klegghorn who was sitting on the back of an ambulance with a medic checking him over.

"You okay Klegghorn?" She asked as she slowly approached, limping slightly.

"Yeah thanks to you." Looking her over he asked, "Are you?"

"Yeah... I'll be fine."

"Maybe you should have them take a look at you." Klegghorn offered again.

"No need. I'll take care of this when I get home. Just a few burnt feathers and some bruises." She waved it off and began making her way back to her bike. He watched her go. He could have sworn that she had been shot by that creep, but she wasn't acting like it. So it must have missed her. Shrugging he figured he would just check in with Wildwing when he gets back.

…..

Mallory's drive back to the pond went fine until she felt warm liquid start to go down her side and then the pain started, making it hard to breath. She speed up wanted to get back faster to patch herself up. She approached the doors that lead to the underground garage, they opened up, letting her in and closing behind her. She was safe now. Not knowing where that tan duck was, she didn't want to risk him catching her at a disadvantage.

Going down the long tunnel that lead to the underground base, she hoped that the other weren't back yet. Yes they were supposed to be back in another four days but if they got her message then they might already be back. She didn't want them to see her like this. Coming to the end of the tunnel and out the garage she was hit with a wave of dizziness and she lost control of the bike. It fell to the side and she with it, both sliding across the metal floor only to come to a stop in the middle of the empty garage.

Mallory lay panting on the floor with the bike on her one legs. "Well at least their not back yet." She looked to where she had fallen and was surprised by the trail of blood smeared on the floor. it went from where she first fell to where she currently lay. "Shit." Realizing now that she was losing too much blood, she pushed the bike off of her and limped to the med lab. "Maybe I should have taken that offer to be looked at after all."

Once there she grabbed everything she needed. Laying back she pulled her shirt and armor off to get a better look at her wound. The bullet was small and wasn't too deep in. The material of her uniform stopped the bullet from doing more damage and going straight through her.

Grabbing the pliers she clenched her teeth for the pain and stuck them into the wound. Opening them slowly to stretch the bullet whole open so that she would have easier access. "Agh!Oh now I really wish I asked to be looked over. Ahhh!" The pain was immense, stretching the already tender flesh. She left the pliers in her wound to keep it open and smacked her hand down on the long tweezers, grabbing them with a shaky hand. Slowly moving them into her forced opened wound, she moved them in until they hit the bullet stuck in her. Opening them and grasping the bullet in them she squeezed hard to make sure she had a good hold of it, unfortunately the bloody bullet slipped and she snapped the tweezers closed pinching a bit of raw bloody flesh.

The pain almost made her back spasm. "Ahhhh!" She let out a pained scream. "Let's not do that again." Attempting again to grab it, she was more careful and slowly tightened them on the bullet, this time it caught and she pulled it out. Her flesh gave resistance to her pulling out the bullet but she wanted to get it over with and pulled it hard, yanking it out. "Ahh!"

Once it was out the blood flowed more freely. Moving fast she blotted the blood away with a cloth and pour the antiseptic into her wound. Stinging fire flared up through her side, rendering her unable to do anything but scream and clench the table. "Aaaaaahhhhhh! OH THAT SON OF A BITCH!" Mallory panted, sweat covered her face and body, making her feathers shine even more then usual. "When I get my hands on him, he's going to wish that he didn't do that." Checking her open wound to make sure nothing needed to be cauterized closed, she was happy to find nothing did. She didn't think that she could stay awake for that and lucky for her, no organs were damaged.

Taking the staple gun from the cart next to her she removed the pliers and pulled her flesh together, stapling it in place. "Agh... Ah... Ahhhh!" It only took three staples to close the wound. Finally done, she wrapped a gauze band-aid around her chest and grabbed an injector, injecting a pain killer into the area around her wound. Laying back for a moment she allowed herself to pass out and drift into blissful sleep. She would have to deal with the burnt feathers and slightly burnt skin later, right now blissful darkness was calling her name.

…..

Meanwhile the other ducks had just finished their third day at the fundraiser and were all walking back to the Arrowwing with Phil following behind them. "Boobies! You did great. The kids loved you and the fans are going to eat this up!"

"Alright Phil but no more public appearances for a while. We've done and are doing plenty with just this week."

"All right Wildwing, your kept your end of the bargain so I will keep mine."

Everyone looked at Phil oddly. "You mean your not gonna argue?!" Asked Duke

While everyone stared slack jawed at this person who was supposed to be Phil Palmfeather, a.k.a. their manager, Wildwing checked his com to find that he had a missed message. Opening his com, he watched the message as Mallory's face came onto his com. "Wildwing I don't know why you guys aren't answering your coms but Drake One picked up a huge signal in the middle of downtown Anaheim." At hearing this everyone crowded around Wildwing to listen in. "I'm going in, it can't wait. Hopefully you'll get this soon." With that the message ended.

Tanya looked at the time on the message. "That was sent at 1pm!"

Wildwing tried calling Mallory back on his com but he got no answer. Now he was worried. "Let's move team!" Everyone got into there positions and the ducks were off to the last location of the energy signal.

" _Hopefully your okay Mal... You better be."_ Wildwing thought as he flew the Arrowwing back towards home.

…..

Mallory awoke to the pain. Slowly opening her eyes she saw that she was in the med lab. "Oh right. I never left." Moving to sit up she cringed and laid back down. "Oh my stars! My side is on fire!" Moving over to the Medicom she started the scan and laid down on the bed, letting it check over her body. Once it was done she got up and checked to see if she missed anything. Luck was on her side for once today and there was no other damage besides losing a lot of blood. She would have to hook up a IV drip to help her.

Looking at her watch she realized that she had slept for half the day. It was late and the guys would be probably be getting back soon., considering that she didn't wake up to the team hovering over her. "Shit! I can't let them come back to blood everywhere! It looks like a horror movie out there."

Getting to it, she cleaned up the medical equipment and moved onto the floor and table that she had been laying on. Slowly making her way out into the hall where she cleaned the key pad and the wall that she leaned on as she staggered down to the lab. Cleaning the trail of blood all the way to the garage. Cringing at seeing the amount of blood on the floor by the bike, she realized just how much she lost. "Well this is probably why I felt so dizzy." She muttered sarcastically to herself.

Getting it over with she cleaned the floor of the garage from and once that was finished, she cleaned the bike itself. The bike was damaged and looked like it had been in an accident but there was only so much that she could do. For this she would need Tanya's help, not that she couldn't work on the bike. They all knew how to repair their gear but she wasn't strong enough right now. With all of this done Mallory went back to her room to take a shower. It was time to get all of the sticky blood and sweat off of her. Once she was rested, she would start to work on finding out who that tan duck was. One thing was for sure... he was ex special forces.

…..

The ducks flew to the spot of the signal and were shocked to find what looked like an explosion had happened. Seeing Klegghorn below sporting bandaids and bruises, talking with other cops. The Ducks put the Arrowwing on hover and slid down some ropes to approach Klegghorn. "Finally decided to show up."

"Klegghorn what happened here?" Wildwing was a little frustrated that the had missed what happened.

"You mean you haven't spoken to Mallory?" Everyone shook their heads.

"We can't get a hold of her." Said Nosedive.

Klegghorn stared at the ground for a moment in thought, then looked back up at Wildwing and nodded. "Follow me, you should see this."

Klegghorn lead them to a van that was reviewing security footage. He grabbed a tape and handed it to Wildwing. "I suggest that you watch this when you get back." He turned to walk away but stopped mid stride and looked back over his shoulder at Wildwing, "And tell that red headed duck thanks. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here right now." Klegghorn turned around and walked away. "Watch that video Wildwing it will tell you everything that you need to know."

Everyone raised an eyebrow at that but turned back to the hovering Arrowwing and climbed up the ropes. While flying back to the Pond everyone was thinking the same thing. _"What on earth happened."_

…..

They were all happy to be back at the good old Pond. It was late when they arrived at midnight. "Finally home! It's time for a nice shower and a good mov- wow!" Nosedive fell on his face after tripping on seemingly nothing.

"Dive you okay?" Wildwing asked helping him up.

"Yeah I tripped on something." Wildwing looked where Dive had been walking and didn't see anything at first. Then he looked again and he noticed the deep gash in the ground. "What?" He walked to it and put his hand were the floor was dented in. "Tanya was this here before?"

She came over and looked at it. "No! That's new!"

"What did that to our metal floors?" Asked Nosedive. Wildwing looked up at him. "Good question."

Duke took this moment to add his input while looking off to the side. "Ya I think one of our bikes would do that, say if it fell over."

"What makes you say that?" Asked Grin, "Oh nothin' just Mallory's damaged bike over there." He said pointing in its direction. Everyone turned to look and see that it was in fact damaged on one side, where it slide across the floor, but they didn't know that.

Wildwing stood up and began walking into the Pond. "Hum... I better check and make sure she's okay. Get some sleep guys."

"Hey let us know if she's not okay." Requested Duke a little worried. Wildwing didn't even turn around as he responded. "I'll let you guys know."

With that everyone was off to bed accept Wildwing. He walked down to her room and punched in her key code, not noticing the blood she had forgotten to clean up on the key pad that was now on his gloved fingers. He walked into the dark room to see Mallory sleeping on her bed with her back to the door.

Going around the bed he looked at her face to find that she looked pretty peaceful. _"She not hurt. Thank the stars."_ He thought as he brushed some hair from her face with his left hand. Leaning in he kissed her forehead and left her to sleep in peace. He didn't want to wake her this late just so he could get a debriefing that he could get from watching the video tape that Klegghorn handed him.

Walking back to Drake One he loaded the tape and watched the footage. Everything seemed normal until he saw a tan male duck standing on the ledge of the tall brown building! _"Another duck?"_ Something seemed familiar about him. He watch Mallory engage him in combat and Klegghorn almost getting blown up and shot but Mallory jumped in to save him. "Mallory did a good job, no wonder he asked me to thank her." He smiled at that. Seeing that the fight wasn't over he continued to watch and stood up in horror when he say Mallory get shot at point blank right in the side! He rewound again just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He wasn't she took a bad hit. Resisting the urge to run back to Mallory's room to check her side he stayed to finish the tape. He needed to know what happened. The tan bastard of a duck escape by diving over the car and using the shadows as cover, Mallory was going to pursue him despite her injuries but the tricky bastard tossed back a puck grenade at her. Luckily she jumped back fast but the explosion still through her across the street into another parked car. "She could have broken bones from that!" He watched as she talked to Klegghorn and disappeared from the picture.

Pulling up Drake One's security footage he watched Mallory drive into the garage and crash coming in. Blood was everywhere! He watch her leave go to the med lab take care of herself and then pass out. Only to get up later and clean everything up and make it look like there had been no problems! "What was she thinking!"

Putting his head down as he leaned over the keyboard he practiced breathing to calm himself down. Opening his eye he was met with some blood covered keys on the right side of the board. He looked down at his gloved hand and saw the blood on the tips. Without a second thought he ran back to Mallory room looked at her key pad, confirming where the blood came from and stormed in.

Turning on the lights he ripped the covers from her body. Mallory jerked awake and tried to sit up but cried out instead and laid back down. Wildwing lifted her hand from her side to see the blood coming through her shirt and staining her hand.

"Mallory, why didn't you go to a hospital? Why didn't you try to contact me! You could have died!"

"I just woke up. What?... Oh...I was going to tell you later." Wildwing sighed again and sat next to her on the bed. "Let me see it." His voice was stern, like she was scolding a child. It annoyed her but she kept her mouth shut, knowing that right now she was talking to her angry captain, not an angry boyfriend.

Mallory looked away from him, suddenly feeling shy and embarrassed about her wound, but sighed and pulled her night shirt up enough to show the bandages. She attempted to sit up but was in too much pain to do it by herself. Seeing her struggle, Wildwing helped her sit up and began unwrapping her bandage that went around her chest and shoulder. Carefully he removed them, until her wound was bared to him. The wound was actually well taken care of considering that she did it herself. Her ribs and lungs were definitely going to be bruised. The bullet hole was surrounded by a black and blue bruised, caused by the impact of of bullet rippling across her stomach and ribs. The bruised looked like a vicious flower spreading angrily across her skin and under her feathers. She must have been hurting bad.

"You did a good job on this Mal." He looked up at her and nodded, "But next time continue to try and contact us." He went into the bathroom and under her sink to grab more bandages. Going back into the bedroom he re-wrapped her ribs and stomach wound so that it would support healing. Once he was done he took a moment to caress her face. Mallory leaned into his touch and smiled tiredly at him.

"Mal, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you. I'm sorry I didn't hear my com. None of us did, it was so load, but it's no excuse. You've could've died and I would have been responsible. I can't lose you! I've already lost one friend on this mission." Wildwing leaned in, being careful not to put any weight on her and kissed her.

"This isn't your fault it's mine. I should have been better prepared." Said Mallory, "He surprised me and that's what caused me to get so injured. Not anything that you-."

"NO." Interrupted Wildwing. "I'm the leader, I'm in charge of everyone's safety..." Wildwing sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Did you see this face?" Mallory shook her head. "No but I do know that the way he moved, he was ex special forces."

"What?! Are you sure?" Wildwing seemed disturbed by this. Mallory looked him in the eyes, not blinking, "Definitely."

Nodding his head he began to undress. Mallory just made room for him on the bed. "Tomorrow I want you to have Tanya take a look at you." Said Wildwing turning off the lights and climbing into bed.

Know better than to argue Mallory nodded. "Ok"

Wildwing took off the mask and placed it beside the bed on the night stand. He curled protectively around Mallory and held her to him as they both fell to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own the mighty ducks.

Old Friend

Chapter 2:

As always, the streets of Anaheim were filled with traffic. The sun was setting, turning the sky an array of bright colors. It would have been enjoyable to sit back so to take in the view and she would have if it hadn't been for her foul mood. Glaring at the road ahead of herself, the image of kicking a certain duck in the ass for being overbearing was an appealing thought. Wildwing was being over protective and wouldn't let her play in the game tomorrow night. She knew he was worried about her but this was being ridiculous. So, to blow off some steam she went out to a movie with Tanya. The duck-cycles were useful here in Anaheim, they could weave in between the cars allowing them to skip getting caught in traffic so that they could arrive at their destinations faster.

They arrived at the movie theater with plenty of time to spare. Both were happy to be out and enjoying some down time. Tanya grabbed the popcorn and drinks since Mallory bought the tickets. They took their seats in the theater and chatted with some friendly fans who had the courage to poke their shoulders and ask for a picture with them. Then the movie started, it was an action and romance. About half way through Mallory was craving gummy bears. She let Tanya know she was going to grab some and quietly left the theater. Walking out to the food stands she bought the gummy bears and was walking down the long hall back to her movie when she spotted something out the of the corner of her eye. Someone had just ducked around a corner. She contemplated just going back to her seats but choose to check it out. Sneaking a peak around the very same corner she was surprised to find no one there! "I could have sworn." Shrugging her shoulders and brushing off the incident, she made her way back into the theater to finish the movie.

They drove back to the Pond, discussing their likes and dislikes about the film. Getting close to the pond, Tanya figured now was as good of a time as any, so she asked the question that had been on her mind.

"What is going on with you and Wildwing? You've both been at-uh, on edge a lot."

Mallory knew this was coming, Wildwing had told her to go see Tanya but she didn't because she forgot. Now she had been hoping to avoid it completely but it didn't seem like that was going to happen now. "Well he's just being over protective and it's driving me insane. He won't even let me play in the game tomorrow night!"

Tanya seemed surprised by this. "Did something happen to you that would make him react this way?" Mallory avoided looking at her. "Something did happen didn't it!"

"I got shot."

"WHAT!" Tanya was looking her over frantically while trying to drive.

"Stop that! You're going to kill yourself. I took care of it myself but Wildwing found out about it." She stared ahead, already knowing the scolding look Tanya would be sending her way.

Tanya looked annoyed. "Why didn't you come to me?"

"Cause this happened while you guys were gone. I had to take care of it myself. What was I going to do? Sit there and let my wound bleed out."

Tanya seemed to back off on this. "I still wish you had told- I mean, mentioned something about it."

"Okay I promise I will go right to you the next time I get hurt even if it has already been taken care of." Tanya nodded, seemingly happy with this. "Even if it is a little bobo." Mallory added while rolling her eyes, a small smirk on her face.

The team tech pretended to look indignant. "Hey I'm the bobo kisser and fixer on this team!" Tanya joked, catching Mallory of guard making her snicker. The mental image of Tanya kissing a scrape on Grin's knee was funny.

They pulled into the underground garage and the doors closed behind them. "I'll be sure to remember that." Mallory was still laughing at Tanya's humor when she parked the bike.

"In all seriousness, you should sit this game out. We'll be okay without you this one time. The opposing team isn't even very good. I think you should listen to Wildwing on this one. Besides I don't know if you no-noticed, but he does love you. It makes him kind of over protective." Mallory nodded, smiling at the thought of him loving her. He had never said it out loud but she had hoped. If Tanya was saying he was then that probably meant that it was true. She was the most observant one out of the whole team... besides Duke.

She couldn't help but smile at seeing Wildwing walk out to meet her. He crossed his arms still expecting a fight about tomorrow's game. _"Tanya's right I should just sit the next game out and not give him such a hard time."_ She thought as she walked over and smiled at him. He seemed surprised and uncrossed his arms a little disarmed at her behavior.

"Wait no fight?" He asked surprised. Mallory laughed. "No fight. I won't give you a hard time about tomorrow's game."

He stared at her hard. "Who are you and what have you done with Mallory."

Tanya snickered and Mallory rolled her eyes. "Seriously no fight." She repeated and walked past him. Wildwing looked over at Tanya with a raised eyebrow asking her silently if she had talked Mallory down. Tanya nodded and he mouthed a thank you, then chased after his temperamental better half.

Tanya watch the two love birds go, a small smile on her face. Duke joined her in walking down the hall to her room. "Where are the love birds goin'?"

Tanya laughed. "To make up." Duke joined her laugh.

"They say make up sex is the best. Speaking of sex, how would you like to go back to my room?" Duke smirked at her and Tanya did a great impression of a tomato.

" _Damn he's getting forward."_ She thought to herself, not that she minded it but still he was a teammate, she needed to tread carefully. "Oh you." Tanya tried to dodge the question and continued walking on to her room, leaving a smirking Duke.

"I'll get you eventually Tanya. The ladies love Duke L'Orange." He went back to his room for the night.

…..


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

Old Friend

Chapter 3:

It was suspicious.

They had not seen hair nor feather of the tan drake that attacked Klegghorn and Mallory. Dragaunus had not been making trouble which means it was only a matter of time before he did and low and behold he did. Right now, they were driving out to a signal Drake One picked up when it suddenly disappeared.

Wildwing was driving the Migrator while Tanya sat next to him, continuously searching for the lost signal. "I don't understand it." She spoke in her nasally voice. "Maybe their trying to hide the signal."

"All the more reason to find them and stop them. Whatever their planning, if Dragaunus doesn't want us to find him then it must be worse than his usual schemes." The red eyes of the mask narrowed in determination, not once leaving the road.

Drake One sent out an alarm to their coms. Tanya pulled the information up on the dashboard and groaned. "Uh guys… the disturbance is all the way back where we came from."

"Oh come on man! Are you kidding?" Nosedive crossed his arms in annoyance, seated towards the back next to Grin.

Wildwing ground his teeth in frustration, turning the Migrator around and headed back towards Anaheim. "They planned this."

…..

Mallory and Duke jumped up in alarm with Drake One's alert system went off, indicating that another signal had popped up. "What the? That's in the complete opposite direction the others went." Duke opened his com to contact Wildwing. "Wildwing there's a new signal."

"We saw Duke. We're turning back but it's gonna take us time to get there."

"We can handle it." Mallory spoke up.

"You're still healing." Wildwing was ready to shoot down any attempt she wanted to make at going out there to face Dragaunus with just two of them.

"What choice do we have? You guys were clearly lured away so that it would give lizard lips more time. Whatever it is, it's probably big."

A long sigh could be heard over the com. "Alright but be careful."

"No sweat Wing, just hurry there."

"We are. Wildwing out."

To avoid traffic, both ducks used the duck stompers which gave them the ability to fly over the city. They flew to the site of the last known location of the most recent signal from Drake One.

They approached the location cautiously, with all the cars around it was difficult to pinpoint the problem until they spotted people jumping out of their cars and running away from something. Finally, they spotted the problem. In the middle of a major Anaheim highway, Siege was smashing cars with his clubbed tail while the Chameleon worked over a large device. Not waiting to see what it does both moved in fast. They were too late as the Chameleon had just hit the activation switch and backed away. The machine seemed to be trembling, starting out slow then picking up speed. The ground began to quake and crack under it. "We have to stop that thing! If could destroy the highway! Everyone under it and on it would be crashed!" Duke yelled.

" _What's the point of this? Why just do this to kill a bunch of people? Dragaunus has always had another motivate."_ Mallory thought.

Buildings around the site were beginning to crack. The last thing they needed was one of those building coming down. There was thousands of people in them working. They set down the duck stompers and charged but Siege caught sight of them.

"The ducks are here!" He began firing on them, holding them at bay so that they device could start doing some damage. "We need to keep them away. This thing might now even work." Mallory and Duke took cover behind a car.

"I thought the duckies were supposed to be too far away to stop us?" Chameleon changed into his larger form and picked up a car, hoisting it over his head to get ready to throw. The new serum pumping through his veins gave him five times the strength he used to have in his form.

"Never mind that, just do as you're told."

Chameleon rolled his large bulbous eyes and tossed the vehicle he was holding at the ducks. Mallory and Duke jumped out of the way of the flying vehicle. "Wow! When did he get that strong?"

Mallory looked just as shocked as Duke. "I have no idea!"

Chameleon picked up another car intending to toss it at the ducks again but Mallory took aim at his knees and fired a puck rope, it wrapped around him, throwing him off balance. He ended up dropping the car, barely missing hitting Siege with it and falling on his back. "You nitwit! What are you doing?" Siege yelled at Chameleon, he wasn't pleased with the idea of being crushed by a car.

"What's it look like?" He growled, grabbing the ropes around his legs, ripping them off and standing back up. He was ready to fight but yelped when Duke jumped up and kicked him in the face, knocking him back again. Siege went to shoot Duke but Mallory dashed in and kicked the weapon from his hand. Moving faster than he could and with great effort, she used his weight against him to toss him over her shoulder into the Chameleon's back.

"That's it! I'm outta here!" Said the Chameleon, hitting his teleporter button and disappearing in a flash of green light. Siege went to do the same but Duke jumped in and knocked Siege's teleporter away from his hands. "Not so fast you creep!"

While Duke began fighting Siege, Mallory approached the machine, she looked it over and found an abort button. "What idiots." She mumbled, moving her hand to press it, only for it to be caught in a tan feathered hand.

She looked up to see the tan duck behind his familiar black mask. Her adrenaline spiked through the roof at seeing the duck that shot her. He yanked her forward and delivered a knee to her stomach. Mallory doubled over for a moment, the pain in her side flaring up from her injury but she jumped back to get distance, ignoring her side.

"You traitor! You're a Puckworldian! How could you work for someone like Dragaunus?" She attacked, sending a barge of kicks and punches in his directions but he blocked them all. He sent his own back at her and Mallory dodged and blocked for a time, but she was having a hard time keeping up due to her injury irritating her side. It had been two weeks and she needed one more to fully recover.

The tan duck saw this and landed a couple of blows to Mallory weak point. She grabbed her side and stumbled back, from him. Checking over on Duke she saw that he was holding up fine against Siege, but his battle had pulled him away and calling out to him would only get him hurt.

Seeing Mallory distracted, he used the moment to attack. Kicking her into the car behind her, breaking the windows. Then approached for another attack intending to finish the fight fast. "I was expecting better out of this fight." He spoke for the first time, causing Mallory to freeze in recognition. She looked up at him studying his appearance.

"Canard?"

He ignored her and went on as if she hadn't spoken. "But then again that gunshot wound would slow anyone down."

"What happened to you?" He didn't answer. Mallory grabbed a metal rope that she used for grapple lines out of her utility belt and prepared to strike when he was within range, making sure to keep it behind her back.

He was close enough now, launching her attack with a kick to the stomach then flipping behind him, she used the metal rope to wrap around his neck, intending to only choke him into unconsciousness. Canard was quick and moved a hand in front of the wire before it could go around his head. Mallory was on his back, pulling with all her might, as he slammed her into cars, trying anything to get her off. He reached his arm back and grabbed her from behind the collar of her armor, tossing her over his head into another parked car. "Oh what is with me and hitting cars now a days?" Mallory groaned while sliding onto the ground.

Looking over she saw Duke get thrown by Siege's tail, Siege grabbed his teleporter and got out of there. Duke was recovering but the ground under him was starting to break thanks to the machine Siege and the Chameleon started. "DUKE! MOVE!" Going on instinct he jumped up and away just in time to avoid going into the earth.

Seeing that Duke was okay, she focused on her problem now. Canard who was almost upon her looking deadly and ready for more. It was clear he didn't intend to let her get away from this fight.

"Duke stop that machine!" She yelled out and she crawled backwards on the ground away from Canard.

"What about you!?" He saw Mallory on the ground and the tan duck approaching her. "I've got this!" She yelled back. He didn't waste time and went to deal with the machine.

Duke was hitting the abort button but it wasn't working. "Damn!" Moving away from it he pulled out his gun and activated explosive pucks. Taking aim, he shot the machine and blew it to pieces. The earthquakes stopped instantly.

Mallory continued to move back, pulling out a gas puck she tossed it at him and ran for it. Looking behind her to make sure he wasn't in pursuit, she didn't see him anywhere. "Damn! It had to be Canard!" She pulled out her com and contacted Wildwing. "Wildwing come in." He answered immediately. "Mallory. What's going on? Have you stopped Dragaunus?"

"No but we're in downtown Anaheim by the central business district. We need help, that tan duck is here and in my current state he is too much for me to handle. Duke took a hit and is not doing much better." Mallory Reported seeing Duke limping back over to his duck stomper. "Wildwing there is more... the tan duck that attacked us... it's Canard."

Wildwing was quiet on the other end until a moment later he spoke again. "You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright we'll be there as fast as we can. Just hang in there. Canard's got to be under some sort of mind control, if we can capture him then maybe we can fix him. Wildwing out." Mallory knew that he would be in turmoil over this but if Canard couldn't be fixed, then what? Deciding not to think about it she put her com away and continued back over to Duke.

Duke saw Mallory running towards him and the duck stompers. "Let's get out of here." Said Mallory mounting her vehicle. Duke nodded and did the same. "Are you okay Sweetheart?"

"As can be expected. You?"

Duke grabbed his side, "In a few words... No." He grunted in pain as he mounted his vehicle.

"Are you going to be okay by yourself?" Asked Mallory, concerned for her teammate.

"Yeah, just as long as I ain't walkin'." Both drove off and started heading back towards the pond only to see the Migrator coming down the road from afar. "There's the others." Duke pointed ahead of them.

They were both in the air a good ten feet over the Migrator's roof, so they weren't expecting the attack that came from above. Duke was ahead of Mallory and didn't see the tan duck jump down from the building above and mount Mallory's duck stomper mid air. It dove down five feet but she was able to level it out before she lost control. She shot her elbow back at her new passenger only for him to block it and put a knife to her heart in a threatening manor. Mallory stopped driving and stopped struggling. Canard wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "You're going to drive while I instruct, understand?" He pressed his knife to her chest as a warning. Mallory just nodded. "Good girl."

Duke was driving ahead and turned to Mallory only to see her not next to him. Looking back he saw her stopped and held at knife point. "Oh no!" Turning around as quick as possible, he began heading back for her. The Migrator was right under him now and without a doubt saw the situation. It stopped twenty feet back from were Mallory was stopped. Duke slowed to a stop ten feet from it but off to the side, in case the migrator needed to take a shot. "Let her go!" Duke yelled at the tan duck.

The tan duck just stared at him for a moment before he moved his hand up to his face and removed his mask. Duke gasped. "Canard!"

Mallory's com started going off. She was getting a call from Wildwing. "Let me answer that. He'll want to talk to you." She moved her hand to her com only for Canard to press the knife harder into her chest over her heart. Mallory moved her hand away from her com, feeling Canard press her back harder to his chest. Her com stopped calling, instead the Migrator's side door opened and Wildwing walked out. He looked up at the both of them and had his hands up.

"Canard, listen to me. This isn't you bubby. Let Mallory go and come down so we can talk. You're my best friend, I won't hurt you." Wildwing was trying to reason with him but Canard wasn't moving. "Let Mallory go. Come down and talk we won't hurt you."

"He'll hurt us!" Said Mallory. At her outburst Canard pressed his knife on her chest harder, drawing blood reminding Mallory to stay silent. Wildwing and Duke both flinched.

"Sorry but no deal." Said Canard. "We're leaving. You won't be following us or I'll kill her. Understand." Wildwing and Duke reluctantly nodded.

Wildwing watched his best friend, feeling like this was another person. _"What happened to him? This isn't Canard."_

"You drive away, now." Mallory nodded and grabbed the handlebars slowly. "Turn this thing around and head west." Mallory did as she was told and looked back at Wildwing one last time before she went off to who knows where. He looked watched them stoically, staring into Mallory's eyes before she had to turn around and drive away.

Everyone watched them go. Duke growled, "We should follow them!"

"We can't risk him hurting Mallory if he sees us." Said Wildwing as he turned back to the Migrator and walked into it. Duke flew down parked the duck stomper in the back of the Migrator then took a sit and waited for Wildwing to explain. "We'll track him using the chips in the duck stomper. Once we find out where he is, we are gonna get them both back."

…..

Mallory continued to fly over the city, with Canard keeping the knife tightly pressed to her. "You know you can scoot back a little. It's not like your going to fall off." She said annoyed.

Canard chuckled, "What's wrong? Don't like being this close to me?" He wrapped his arm around her tighter and leaned his head on her shoulder. "Just enjoy the view while you can Mallory."

"Wildwing is a great leader Canard, he will catch you."

"Good." That gave Mallory pause. _"Good? He wants to be caught?"_

…..


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

AN: A big thank you to everyone for the reviews. Sorry about the On Hiatus. I forgot to take that off. I do plan on finishing this story.

Old Friend

Chapter 4:

Steering the Duck Stomper where she was directed, Mallory brought it down on a roof of a fifteen-story hotel. "What do you hope to accomplish here?" He didn't answer. "Canard you've got to be in there somewhere. Whatever hold Dragaunus has on you, you need to fight it." Her statement must have angered him because he suddenly clocked her across the back of the head with the handle of his knife. Mallory yelped and fell off the Duck Stomper to the ground, clutching the back of her head.

"I didn't say you could ask me questions." He scolded.

"Okay I know you're not yourself so I'm not going to take that personally but still **fuck you**." She growled, glaring up at him, her emerald green eyes shined with resentment.

Canard smirked at her comment. "You are feisty." He kneeled next to her, taking a moment to observe her. "You have beautifully striking eyes but if you keep it up, I'll cut them out." He brought the long-curved combat knife up to eye level to make his point. The edge of the blade shined wickedly under the sunlight.

She looked past the blade at his face which was hidden by the black mask. It looked like a dark brother of the Drake DuCaine Mask. "What happened to you?" She whispered more to herself then him. A quick flick of his wrist and Mallory gasped, jerking her head away from him, the stinging sensation on her cheek told her he cut her. She felt the warm thick liquid slowly seep out from the thin cut and gather until it was heavy enough to drip down her feathers. She didn't bother to bring her hand up to the cut, it was best to not touch it since it was clean.

Canard tilted his head at Mallory, watching the burgundy liquid drip down her cheek to the side of her beak. "Still feel like talking?" She kept her mouth shut this time, worried that he might keep his word and cut out her eye next. Mallory didn't think she could pull off the eye patch look like Duke could. "I didn't think so." Standing up he walked behind her, grabbing her one arm he pulled her up, intending to tie her up but Mallory had other plans.

Canard thought she would be too intimidated to fight but he clearly forgot who she was. Fast as lightening she ducked under his arm, yanked it behind him while kicking him in the back of his right knee. Not expecting it he went down, feeling the knife get smacked out of his hand, he let it go, opting to throw an elbow back into Mallory's side. She released his arm accidentally. He quickly pulled out his gun, spinning around on his one knee to shoot her but Mallory kicked the gun out of his hand and launched another solid kick to his chest before he could block, knocking him on his back.

Grabbing the discarded gun, she aimed it at him as Canard got to his feet. "Stop and get down on your knees now!"

"You're not going to kill me Mallory. Wildwing would never forgive you."

"You're right I'm not going to kill you but there are many ways to disable you without killing you."

He smirked walking forward, thinking she wouldn't do it but she wasn't going to put up with this. Aiming at his right thigh she fired two rounds into it. Canard yelled out, grabbing his leg in pain. "Son of a bitch!" He yelled, glaring at the pretty red head.

"Like I said… GET ON YOUR **FUCKING** KNEES!" She ordered, this time Canard complied, not able to do much else. Pulling out a pain killer he injected it into his leg. "What's that?"

"A pain killer obviously. Not very smart, are you?" Canard sneered at her behind the dark mask. She didn't respond, only bit her cheek to stop her temper. "What are you going to do Mallory?" He smirked, admiring her for her abilities. She was able to keep her cool and gain the upper hand in the situation when he had been the one holding all the cards. It was impressive. _"I won't make the same mistake again with her."_

"Shut up." She opened her com, calling the others. "Guys where are you?"

"On our way up to you." Wildwing answered. "Where's Canard?" Of course, he wanted to know about Canard. He always got like this when it came to finding his best friend.

"He's here." She glared at the smug duck. _"By the way, I'm fine thank you."_ She thought to herself. "Just get up here." She closed the com, irritation scrunching her brows.

"He doesn't seem very worried about you. Actually, I think he's more worried about me." Canard smirked, mocking her.

"Cause he knows my temper and what I'll do, so keep it up and maybe I'll be the one to cut out one of your eyes." She hissed at him.

"Touché and here I thought you were the professional military duck."

"Indeed I am. Is it you who are on your knees before me and not the other way around. Even though you were the one who clearly had the upper hand before. You either suck at this or you really fucked up." She mocked him back. His face didn't reflect his thoughts to her snide comment, instead his smirk grew. It irritated her. "Were you always this much of a smug ass before?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Yes." Mallory hadn't been expecting a reply, especially that reply. Seeing the question in her eyes, he smirked even more.

"You remember before?" He didn't say anymore. Stepping forward to interrogate him more was interrupted when the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs could be heard. Before she could stop herself, the red head instinctually glanced at the door that accessed the roof. Seeing the opportunity Canard tossed a small grenade at her, it wasn't much, just something to throw her off her feet, it wouldn't do any damage to the build.

Unfortunately for Mallory she was close enough to the edge of the building for the explosion to send her over the side into a free fall. She gasped as she watched the roof pass her vision. Her stomach going in her throat in panic. Looking down at the approaching ground, she smiled and cringed at the sight of the giant solarium over the hotel pool.

She was going to land in water but would have to go through the glass first. Grabbing her gun out she fired on the quickly approaching glass, breaking it so that she crashed through easier. Finally, she hit and the glass gave away allowing her an easy fall into the cool water. Smacking the water knocked the breath out of her as she sank down, coming close to hitting the bottom. Mallory pressed her feet to the floor of the pool and pushed up to the surface, breaking through and gasping for air. Swimming slowly to the side, she shakily grabbed the ladder to the pool, taking a moment to rest. Her body was shaking uncontrollably due to the adrenaline from her heart pounding fall. Good thing the pool was on the tenth floor and outside.

Slowly pulling herself from the water, she stood on unsteady feet, trying to shake off the lingering fear of almost falling to her death. Tilting her head back she observed where she had fallen from. It was far. Sighing she leaned on her knees when she felt stinging on her right shoulder. There was a cut going up her bicep and stopping before it hit her deltoid. "I'll pluck that duck one feather at a time." She growled, at the cut. Pissed because the ducks were supposed to be going to a ball in a couple of days and her dress was strapless. How was going to be hid? No amount of makeup would to hide this!

It took her a moment to realize that her com was beeping. Opening it, she was expecting it to be Wildwing, however found Tanya's worried face greeting her instead. "Mallory, are you okay? Where are you? Why are you all cut up and wet."

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm guessing Canard got away."

"Well not exactly. The guys are still chasing him." Tanya raised her eyebrow at Mallory.

"Okay I'm on my way back up."

"Back up?" Tanya glance to her right and started moving. Mallory looked up at where she fell from and saw Tanya peek her head over the side of the building. Mallory heard her gasp when she finally saw her.

Waving up at the blonde a little sheepishly, the red head chuckled at what Tanya said next. "How did you get all the way over there?"

"Well there is this thing called gravity..."

"Not what I meant! I you would have to be thrown a-at least twenty feet to even reach the pool from here!"

"Grenade."

"Ohhhh." The blonde nodded, understanding now what happened. "Y-you're lucky to be li-liv-, uh you know, alive."

"Tell me about it. I'm coming back up."

"Ya sure you want too?" Tanya couldn't help but smirk at the distinct hole in the solarium kind of shaped like Mallory.

"Oh yeah." She wanted to pummel Canard for cutting her cheek, hitting her across the back of the head with a knife, throwing a grenade at her and throwing her off a roof and into a pool covered by glass. Not to mention the first time she ran into him he shot her! Oh yeah, she wanted to roll out the welcome mat for him alright. And it was going to start with her putting her size 8 shoe up his ass!

…..


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

Old Friend

Chapter 5:

Glaring at the bullet wound in his leg, Canard rethought his plan. It wasn't going to work now that he had been injured, after all it would require a lot of fighting. He was going to need to heal before trying to blow up the Pond. Mallory had screwed up everything. The sound of the door to the roof access being slammed open pulled him out of his thoughts. He jumped up to some piping above with great effort and waited for his prey to come by. Maybe he could kill off some of the others ducks while he was out here. One was already down, only five more to go.

…..

"He has to be around here somewhere." Wildwing muttered.

"If he's working for Dragaunus then maybe he teleportered out of here." Nosedive crept behind his brother, guarding his back.

"Maybe." Bring his fingers up to the sides of the mask to scan the area, he didn't see anything. Wildwing sighed in frustration. "Looks like he's gone."

"Sorry bro. Don't worry we'll find him." Nosedive patted his brother on the shoulder.

"Yeah, sur- ah!" Wildwing cried out as he was kicked in the shoulder from above, forcing him to fall forward on his hand and knees. Nosedive turned, to aim his gun at the attacker but the grey booted foot kicked the gun out of his hand, delivering swift punch to the youngest duck's stomach. Dive groaned and stepped back, covering his stomach with his hands. Looking up he saw Canard wearing a similar mask to Wildwing's, only dark grey. He charged Nosedive but was tackled by Wildwing before he could reach him.

Catching his foot in Wildwing's stomach, Canard tossed him over his head and rolled back to his feet. Wildwing's quick reflexes were the only thing that saved him from falling off the edge of the roof. He grabbed the ledge just as he tumbled over. "Wildwing!" Nosedive called out, afraid his brother had just fallen to his death. Furiously he attacked Canard. "I don't care if you are our friend. You're going down!" He ran clumsily at Canard, putting as much power behind his charge as possible intending to kick the manipulated duck.

Grabbing Dive's foot Canard deflected the kick and punched Nosedive right in the balls. Poor Dive went down hard on his side, his face a bright red from the pain. "Oh man not the nads dude."

Wildwing was still struggling to pull himself up over the ledge while Nosedive was curled in the fetal position. Not wasting anytime Canard kicked Nosedive in the forehead with the heal of his boot, knocking the young duck out. "Dive!" Wildwing yelled, seeing his brother get kicked in the face. It only served to draw Canard's attention. He walked over and stepped on Wildwing's right hand, forcing him to release the ledge. Leaving him holding on for dear life with his left hand. "Canard stop!" Desperation and panic was leaking into his voice. Canard stared down at him coldly. Clearly, he had no intention of stopping as he brought his foot up and smashed it down on Wildwing other fingers. "Ah!" The instinct to pull his hand back from the pain was hard to ignored, instead he grabbed Canard's ankle with his free hand. Forcing the ducks foot away from his aching fingers. A few moments struggle and Canard yanked his foot free with a sneer.

He went to pull his gun out and pointed it down at Wildwing. "So long, buddy." Wildwing's eyes rounded at the gun aimed down at him. Canard aimed at his forehead and pulled the trigger. The loud sound of a gunshot rang through the air.

Duke and Grin rounded the corner just in time to see Canard aim his gun down and pull the trigger.

Wildwing felt the bullet hit his forehead, breaking away part of the mask. It painfully ricocheted off his protected face right back into Canard's unguarded shoulder. Wildwing felt his skull vibrate excruciatingly as he desperately clung to the side of the building. The mask was shooting out arches of electricity where a piece had broken off.

Canard had been knocked back two steps, he growled annoyed that he had inadvertently shot himself. Surprised was clearly written over his face. He didn't think the mask would be able to withstand the impact of a bullet so close.

"Canard! Don't move!" Duke yelled, pulling out his saber.

Seeing his disadvantage and the fact he was out number, the tan duck made a run for it. Pulling out another pain killer he injected one into this shoulder and kept moving. "Shot twice by my own weapon. That's a first for me." He growled, thinking about how Mallory had shot him in the leg. He thought about the look on her face when she fell off the roof, most likely to her death. He didn't feel particularly good about it but part of him was satisfied for getting rid of the pesky female. She had ruined his mission once before by herself and again with shooting him in the leg.

Glancing back over his shoulder, he observed that Duke was in hot pursuit.

…..

Grin ran to his leader's aid, easily pulling the drake up and back onto the roof. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Is Nosedive okay?"

"I do not know." Grin looked the unconscious duck on the ground. Then glanced around himself "Where is Tanya and Mallory?"

Wildwing for the first time realized he had not seen Mallory around at all. Where was she?

Opening the com he called the two ducks. "Mallory. Tanya. Come in."

…..

Rounding the corner Duke saw Canard standing on the ledge, he looked ready to jump off. "Take it easy Canard. We're here to help you." Creeping closer, the ex-thief kept his sword up in case the drake in front of him tried something funny. He stared at Duke for a moment before lifting his finger and hitting the button on the teleporter. In a flash of green-light he disappeared.

The older drake sighed and put away his saber. Running back to where he left Grin, he found the large duck checking over Nosedive while Wildwing was attempting to contact Tanya and Mallory. Finally, both rounded the corner. They all looked up at the two females.

"Where have you two been?" Duke asked.

"Running up a lot of stairs." Mallory answered. "Where's Canard?" She was eager to see him.

"Gone." Duke crossed his arms. "He teleported out before I could catch him."

Wildwing sighed. Looking at Mallory he saw all the cuts on her. "Is everyone still in one piece?" Everyone that was conscious nodded. "Good. Let's get back to the Pond. Nosedive is going to need some medical attention." Grin picked the young duck up and carried him down to the Migrator with Duke and Tanya following him. Wildwing walked up to Mallory examining her cuts. "You're going to need medical attention too." His hand came up to turn her face gently so he could see the cut on her cheek. He was gentle as he examined it then checked the one running along her arm. "This one is deep. What happened?"

"Canard happened." She watched him examine her, he was always so gentle. Looking up at the mask Mallory brought her hand up and touched where the bullet bounced off. "What happened here?"

"Canard happened." He repeated her statement, a gloomy cloud hung heavily over him. "He's not himself. He wouldn't do this. We've gotta figure out what Dragaunus did to him."

The only thing Mallory wanted to do was beat sense into Canard but depending on Dragaunus did, it might not be that easy.

…..


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

Tanya sighed heavily as she tinkered with the mask, trying to fix the damage done.

"How's it coming Tanya?" Wildwing walked into the lab wearing his causal clothing.

"I still have a lot to do." She sighed. "Being hit in the forehead was the wor-wors- uh a bad spot to get hit."

Wildwing nodded, wanting to be frustrated and angry but knew Tanya wasn't to blame. Several emotions were wreaking havoc on him mind for the past twenty-four hours. Betrayal, anger, frustration, take your pick. "Alright let me know when it's ready. The sooner we have it back the better." He felt betrayed that Canard shot him in the head. His intention was to kill him but it wasn't Canard's fault, which is where the frustration came in. It was Dragaunus's fault, he just knew it. There was no prof yet that Dragaunus did something to Canard but they would find it. His anger and hate towards the red lizard had only increased over time, this just kicked it up to a new level though. "If you need me, I'll be in the gym working off some steam."

Tanya only nodded, knowing that he had been in a horrible mood since they had gotten back. She just hoped his bad mood passed before the ball this week.

Just as she was about to proceed working on the mask, the door opened making her jump. Mallory walked in with Duke. "Hey Tanya. Here for the checkup."

Her annoyance instantly fled her. "Oh good. I was worried I was gonna have to hu-hunt you down." She stopped what she was doing to get up and walk over to Mallory. Having her sit on one of the Medicoms beds, she activated the advanced machine to run a scan and analysis on Mallory's arm.

"Hey Sweetheart. How's the mask comin'?" Duke stood next to Tanya watching her work the different buttons and nobs.

She wanted to sigh at being asked the same questions. "Slowly. Some of the circuit boards need to be replaced. I've made some new ones. Now I'm just replacing those and fix any damaged wires."

"Shouldn't take too long." Duke crossed his arms as he stood next to her.

"T-that depends on if all the parts function properly together. Sometimes when putting in new circuit boards they can short out just because another component isn't responding. Given that it's bound to happen, I would say another day." She finished the scan. "Well, you're in good health Mallory. We can heal that cut on your arm right now if you want?"

"Yes! Do it. I have a sleeveless dress for the benefit." She muttered.

"Oh ya. I forgot abou' that." It was Duke's turn to want to sigh, just another event with a bunch of rich people gawking at them. Duke remembered the last ball, he spent most of the night dancing with different partners. Not that he minded dancing but not all were good dancers, his feet were quite sore after. It was surprising the number of women that hit on him at those things. It wasn't like he was the only one. Everyone on the team had to deal with it. Grin was probably the least pestered because of his intimidating stature but even he wasn't safe from the throngs of flirtatious women. Mallory was always on Wildwing's arm at these things, so they were both kept relatively safe however if they had to separate then they were instantly fair game. He began scheming ways to keep people away from him. _"Maybe not shower after a game."_

"Yeah. We're all dredging it." Tanya mumbled, remembering how a drunk guy at the last event tried to get her to go home with him. She had danced with him once and had a rather boring conversation about football, a game she had absolutely no interest in but he kept going on and on about it. Obnoxiously claiming the sport to be ten times more manly then hockey. Unable to stand talking to him any longer she excused herself to the fountain in the garden to get some peace only from him to follow and try, very unsuccessfully, drag her to his car. A few cross words later and the guy ended up in the fountain. It was all over the news, the man tried to sue but it was seen as self-defense and dismissed by the courts.

Grin was particularly displeased to hear of her treatment much to her surprise. He wanted to put the man in his place but Wildwing talked him out of it and convinced him to grab a drink, which he did. The team had never seen the big drake down a punch bowl so quickly and judging from their reactions, neither had the humans. The event had stayed in Tanya's mind since, she was touched he was so fierce on her behalf not to mention loomed over her like a body guard for the rest of the night. At first, she thought that perhaps he was just protective of the females on the team but then later that night a similar situation occurred with Mallory and Grin was completely calm. Wildwing on the other hand… he handled it well enough but she had a sneaking suspicion that he found the guy later and confronted him more aggressively. The human had been seen almost running out of the ballroom looking terrified. She glanced over at Mallory to see her dancing on the floor with some random guy, Wildwing was nowhere in sight until he came out of the crowd a couple minutes later and politely asked if he could have his date back, the gentlemen dancing with Mal kindly obliged.

Speaking of Wildwing she hoped he was okay. What happened between him and Canard on the rooftops had surprised the team, especially Nosedive. Mallory on the other hand was not surprised, after all she had been shot and thrown off a rooftop by the previous team captain. The red head was ready to "bash the duck in the head." Mallory's words. And him shooting Wildwing only solidified this thinking. Making her thoughts known to their team captain hadn't helped, the leader had strongly disapproved. Making it known that no matter what Canard was not to be hurt. Mallory had been angry and Tanya couldn't help but agree with her.

She felt like Wildwing was putting Canard's safety over that of his team and himself. Canard was trying to kill them or horribly wound them. What would Wildwing do if he had succeed? Would he still refuse to hurt his best friend? If it came down to it Wildwing would have to make a choice. What would it be?

…..

Breathing in and out in a practiced rhythm, Wildwing counted through his sets until they were completed. Putting down the weights while breathing heavily, he decided to call it a night. Usually lifting helped him relax but it didn't seem to be working. Realizing it was useless, he wiped down the equipment then grabbed a towel and his water bottle off the floor. Walking back to his room to hit the showers, he thought about his current predicament.

He would be lying if he said that he wasn't hurt by Canard trying to kill him but it wasn't Canard's fault. I couldn't be. It was Dragaunus's fault.

To top it off Mallory had been avoiding him. She was angry because he wouldn't let her hurt Canard. Not that he thought that she would actually kill him but still that woman could do some serious damage to someone if pushed. And Canard had pushed her buttons. Wildwing understood why she was angry but in the end Canard was his friend and a teammate. If it had been one of them, he would extend the same curtesy. Now he just had to figure out how to save his best friend before something happened.

…..

Dragaunus sat in the command chamber chair, seething about the ducks winning again. Canard stood in front of him completely unfazed by the red lizard's temper. With his black mask in place he looked as stoic as Wildwing.

"At every turn they've beaten us back. You were supposed to come here and change that!" He pointed his disgustingly long yellow nail at the duck before him. "How do we hurt them? If only we could capture Wildwing and destroy that accursed mask! But it's almost impossible."

"Then don't capture Wildwing." Canard spoke up. "Capture one of the others and lure him to you."

"Oh and who do you propose we capture?"

"Tanya."

"The blonde female? Why?"

"She the team tech. Without her they would suffer a great loss to their efforts. Besides the leader, she is probably one of the most singularly important ducks on the team."

Dragaunus rubbed his scaly chin in thought. "Perhaps but what about his brother?"

"Also useful but not nearly as valuable to the mission. Out of all the ducks, he would logically be the most expendable. If you take him, it would only incur his brother's wrath."

"And the others?"

"Grin is the muscle, Duke is the stealth expert, Mallory is martial art and weapons expert. I wouldn't take any of those three. Tanya is the best choice. Without her, half of the stuff they do wouldn't be possible."

"Very well. Bring me Tanya alive."

Canard nodded and walked out of the room.

…..

It was 8 am when Tanya walked into the kitchen to see Mallory making coffee. "Oh could you pour me a cup of that?" The blonde asked, stretching her arms above her head.

The red head smiled at her friend. "Sure." She opened the cabinet above her and pulled out another mug. Pouring Tanya a cup, she added two sugar cubes and left it black, just the way the tech liked it.

"Th-thanks." She took the coffee and sat down at the table, slowly sipping the hot beverage as Mallory took a seat across from her. "What's on the uh- ya know agenda for today?"

"I don't know. All updates and weapon checks were finished yesterday. I have a lot of free time on my hands today. You?"

"N-nothing too bad, just a couple of updates to Drake One but I don't need to start those until later tonight." Mallory only nodded. The past couple of days Mallory had been more subdued and a little too quiet. She wondered if the militaristic duck was still angry at Wildwing, perhaps getting out would be good for her. "Well, I don't really have anything to do right now, want to go to one of the strip malls?"

The word 'mall' made Mallory perk up. "Yeah. Sounds nice." It was times like this that Mallory didn't think she could survive being stranded on a strange planet without Tanya's companionship. She knew just how to cheer her up. Not that the guys weren't great but girl time was important. "Meet in the garage in twenty minutes?"

"I'll be there."

…..

"This is cute."

"That's no-not my color."

"Really?" Mallory glanced at the dress and back at Tanya. "I think you would look great in blue."

"No-not a blue that is that low cut." She pointed to the deep v-neck on the front of the dress.

"Oh come on its sexy."

"Not my style."

"Alright. At least you grabbed a black dress for the ball today." Mallory put the dress back on the rack, shifting her bags around to carry more comfortably. "Shall we go?"

"Uh yeah one second, I need to find my list." Tanya checked her pockets and bags.

"Your list?"

"This stupid thing is in the way." She pulled out her wallet from her pocket. "Here can you hold this?" Mallory nodded, taking her wallet and putting it in her right pants pocket. "So what did you need a list for?"

"Just a few uh- ya know spare parts." She finally found the list, pulling the crumpled piece of paper out. "Would you mind if I stopped by to grab a few things? I'll be quick. If you want I can meet you over by the café?"

"Sure. I'll grab us a table." Mallory walked in the opposite direction of Tanya as the blonde happily skipped to her favorite store which was just around the corner. Heading over to the café and grabbing a table for them, Mallory placed her bags down and ordered some water for the two of them.

Looking at her watch she checked the time, wondering how long Tanya would be and if she would have to go get her like she did last time. Tanya was easily distracted in Lectric Land, time slipped away from the tech when she hunted the aisles. Leaning back, Mallory crossed her legs under the small round café table, feeling the wallet in her pocket. "Oh no. I forgot to give Tanya her wallet back." Looking over at Sarah their waitress, Mallory got her attention.

She came right over with a smile. "Hi Mallory."

"Hey Sarah. Tanya forgot her wallet with me. I need to ran over and give it to her. Can you watch my bags?" She and Tanya frequented this place often and knew most of the staff and manager well.

"Yeah sure. I don't see why not. I can put it in the back in my locker if you want?"

"That'd be great." Handing the brunette the bags, Mallory got up. "I'll be right back. Shouldn't take too long."

"Take your time." Sarah took the bags to the back while the duck left to give Tanya her wallet back.

Walking out into the sun, she shielded her eyes from the rays, glaring up at it for being so annoyingly bright. A movement to the right on a rooftop caught Mallory's trained eye, she zeroed in on it and found Canard sneaking along the buildings, headed towards Lectric Land. "Canard!" She pulled out her com to call the team but paused. Wildwing was determined to catch him unharmed, perhaps it would be best to grab him and then let the others know. She wasn't sure what Canard was up too exactly but she would stop it.

Closing her com, she glared up at the duck that hadn't seen her yet. Before she called the others, it was time to deliver a little pay back for him throwing her off the hotel roof. Smacking her chest piece she changed into her battle gear.

…..

Canard used his com to track Tanya's signal. She was headed right towards his position. Crouching down he waited for her to come to him, he was like a leopard stalking his prey. The blonde duck rounded the corner, then took a sudden left towards a large store called Lectric Land. Moving quickly, he slowly made his way over towards the rooftop of the building she was walking into. Lucky for him she was all alone. It would make snatching her easier.

Jumping to another rooftop he was focused on his task. So focused he didn't hear the sound of a grapple hook latching onto the roof nearby. He was almost to there when Mallory jump out in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. "You!" Pure disbelief was written across his face.

"Me." She mocked.

"How many times do I have to kill you?" He yelled, lobbing a grenade at her. She dove away from it, getting clear from its blast range and taking cover behind a large metal air conditioning unit.

"Until you actually get it right is suppose. Though I doubt you will." The sneer and distain in her voice was palpable as she pulled out her puck-canon.

"Don't get too cocky hen. It just might happen."

"Hen?!" She repeated the word indignantly. It was a term used for old, fat, lazy, female ducks that were bossy and rude. "I'll show you!" She yelled, taking her puck-canon and switching it from control burst fire to automatic, using it as a machine gun to mow down everything in her path. Canard took cover behind another metal air conditioning until and pulled up his ice shield, using it to block the bullets that made it through.

Mallory's toned arms held the gun stable, not allowing the kickback to throw her aim off. He cringed at the amount of fire power the small female was unloading at him. If he didn't have his shield, he would be laying in a puddle of his own blood right now. "How's that for a hen, dodo?" Dodo was a term used for calling a cocky male duck a dumb ass.

Canard glared from behind the now busted unit. Someone was going to be very confused when they got up the roof and found one on the air conditioners full of holes. "Pretty much what I'd expect from a hen." He knew he should have kept his mouth shut but he couldn't help it. She rubbed his feathers the wrong way.

"AHHHGGGRRHHH!" He heard her yelled, the sound of her gun being switched over to the grenade launcher made him realize that he rubbed her feathers the wrong way too.

"Shit." Canard made a run for it at the sound of her firing a grenade in his direction. It spit fire and debris everywhere behind him. He had just barely escaped death but didn't stop and risk looking back or the fiery red head would hit him right on target. True to thought, the sound of another grenade being fired at him could be heard and the feel of the explosion behind him proved him right. She seemed determined to kill him. Each time a grenade went off he could hear and feel them getting closer to striking their target.

People on the streets had begun to gather, looking up and wondering what was happening on the rooftops. Seeing this mission was for now a lost cause, he was about to hit his teleporter when a grenade landed too close, throwing him off his feet and over the side of the roof. He glared at her smirking face. "Now we're even asshole!" She yelled, aiming at his airborne body. Before she could shoot he hit his teleporter and disappeared mid fall. "Damnit. He got away." She muttered, realizing she had gotten carried away as she observed the roof around her. If Wildwing found out he was going to be pissed for several reasons.

Seeing he was gone, Mallory put her puck-canon away on her back. Growling at the fact that Canard escaped again. "I really hate those teleporters." Walking back towards her grapple hook which was still attached to the roof she used it to propel herself down back to the ground without being seen. Detaching it, she yanked the grapple free and started walking to Lectic Land. But not before hitting her chest piece to change back into her casual clothing.

Tanya was no doubt wondering where she put her wallet.

…..


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

AN: Sorry about the wait. This chapter has been done, I just haven't gotten around to posting it.

"Damn her, that duck is becoming the biggest pain in my ass." Canard growled, while limping into the Raptor. The drugs he injected were wearing off and the healing gunshot wound in his leg throbbed painfully. He had torn the wound open again and with every step little droplets of blood left a trail in his wake. He used the ugly red walls of the ship to support some of his weight, taking the strain off his re-injured leg. Finally, in the med bay of the red ship, he took a moment to inspect the small wound in his upper thigh. Cutting his pants in a straight line, Canard was careful not to inflict anymore pain by cutting himself. Last thing he needed was another hole thanks to being careless. Once the cut in the pants was long enough, he pushed the dark fabric aside and got a good look at the bloody hole.

He sighed seeing that the skin that had been holding the stitches had been ripped, painfully fraying the skin. Grabbing another pain killer, the duck jammed the injection into his thigh and groaned at the relief of no longer feeling the full extent of his injury. Since the skin ripped he wasn't going to be able to stitch it again, this would require at little heat to burn the wound closed. He hated doing this, ducks didn't like heat.

He was going to have to figure out another plan to get Tanya away from her teammates. Speaking of which, Dragaunus took his news about as well as he thought he would. He blew up a bunch of robots to take his anger out on them, knowing that he could hurt any of his men because he couldn't spare any. Chameleon was already suffering after affects from the serum, it caused him terrible headaches. With the Chameleon temporarily out of commission, Dragaunus was weak.

Tanya's capture would have to wait now. Mallory had been an unexpected interruption in the plan and the more he ran into her the more he hated her. When he got his hands on that duck, she was going to wish she had never laid eyes on him.

Meanwhile in the Raptor's command chamber, Dragaunus again sat in his chair, growling about Canard's most recent failure. However, he shouldn't be too terribly surprised to hear it. The ducks had a way of ruining plans.

"Wraith, get in here!" Dragaunus yelled.

A cloud of smoke appeared, taking the shape of a long thin body with an unnaturally long torso then disbursed to reveal the old Saurian holding a tall staff with a duck skull stabbed brutally down on its pointed tip. Wraith took pride in the skull that sat on top of his staff. It belonged to an influential and powerful duck that had caused many troubles for the Saurians the first time they tried to invade Puckworld. It wasn't Drake DuCaine's skull but a dear friend of his. DuCaine's anguish at seeing his dead friend's skull on this very staff was a symbol of pride for the Saurain's. Wraith would have loved to be the one to say it was him who killed this duck but it would have been a lie. This staff had been passed down from mage to mage until he was granted the honor of receiving it.

"Canard is uncontrollable like this. He came back without completing his mission with no fear of me!" Dragaunus stood from his red throne, disliking how he had been brushed off. "I want him under mind control. Now!"

"My lord that is impossible. He is too strong willed. Mind control only works on the weak minded. If I were to use it on him, he would eventually break free like the last time. All I can do is change his memories. It has worked so far, my lord. He still thinks the ducks were the ones that beat him and stranded him in limbo." Wraith clutched his staff with both hands, anxiously twisting them.

"This is not a guarantee that he won't turn on us."

"No. He will require more work my lord."

"We must make him loyal to us." The red lizard took a seat back on his small throne.

"Yes, my lord." Wraith bowed to Dragaunus, making his hasty exit and leaving the red lizard to stew in his throne.

…...

Two days and there had been no sign of Canard. Wildwing searched relentlessly for his friend, exhausting himself in the process. It was 1 am and he sat at Drake One, tapping his fingers on the keyboard. A frustrated sigh could be heard over the quiet buzz of the massive super computer. His eyes burned with the need to sleep but he stubbornly refused to give up. "Canard wouldn't give up on me."

"Maybe not but you're not doing him any good by staring uselessly at a computer screen. You certainly won't do him any good if you're too tired to fight." Mallory stood beside him with her hands on her hips. "Go to bed."

"Go to bed or come to bed?" He glanced at her.

"Which ever you want." She offered.

"The latter."

"Then come to bed." Mallory leaned over and hit the button to turn only the screen off. Wildwing nodded standing up and pressing another button that folded the chair away into the floor.

"Okay. Let's go to bed." He followed her back to her bedroom, hitting his com to change out of his armor and into casual clothes.

Mallory glanced at him from the side of her eye, seeing that he looked a little beaten down in his efforts. "We'll find him."

"How do you know?" For the first time, he was being negative about the situation.

"Cause he wants to be found." Stopping in his tracks the white feathered drake raised an eyebrow at the red head.

"What do you mean?"

"He said something to me when he took me hostage. I told him that you would catch him and he said good."

"Good?"

"Yeah. Good." They remained quiet for the rest of the walk back to her bunk. Both contemplating the meaning behind Canard's statement and both coming to different conclusions.

…..

Tonight was the night. The night they had all been dreading. The ball for the benefit.

Wildwing checked over his black suit and black tie, it was the dress code required to enter the benefit. He wasn't fond of wearing this black suit. It was nice and he looked good in it but he felt like a show boat with the high contrast between the black fabric and white feathers. The mask for once wasn't on his face. Phil had pestered him for a week to keep it off during the ball. Wildwing finally relented but only on the condition that it stay on his person at all times and if he felt the need, it would be used at his discretion. So currently the mask was safely tucked away in a large tailored pocket inside the suit jacket. It couldn't be seen but when dancing it would be felt.

The sound of his door opening caught his attention, checking behind himself using the mirror he smiled at the duck walking through the door and whistled. Mallory smiled at him, decked to the nines in her deep red dress that flowed around her legs as she walked. It was one of those dresses that stopped the show and drew your eyes to the wearer. Mallory knew what she was doing when it came to dressing up, she was gorgeous. However, he had never told her that he always found her beauty shined the most when she went natural. To him her wearing a baggy shirt and shorts was jaw dropping as opposed to all the makeup and jewelry but females liked to dress up, so he never commented on it. "You look gorgeous Mal."

"Thanks. You look handsome yourself." She appraised him as he turned around. "Ready to get this over with."

"You kidding? I'm ready for it to be over with now. I think all of us rather go through a week of Dive's pranks then do this."

"Wow! Speak for yourself! I'll take getting my feet stepped on any day over Nosedive's pranks." He offered his arm which she took with a nod. "How can you stand getting pranked like that anyway?"

"You forget I grew up with him. That tends to help build up a tolerance for these things." Mallory scoffed, making Wildwing smile.

…..

The benefit was exactly how the ducks thought it would be. They dodged flirting, danced endlessly, and smiled for all the pictures. Mallory and Wildwing had been spared most of it by sticking together but the others hadn't been so lucky.

Tanya groaned, walking to the punch bowl and pouring herself a cup. Her feet ached from the heels, she wasn't used to wearing high heels, that was Mallory's thing. "Give me a good pair of boots any day." She grabbed a chair and took off her shoes, letting her sore feet rest for a moment.

"Are you alright?" She turned to the familiar deep voice of her large teammate. Grin stood next to her.

"Oh yeah. Just giving my feet a break." She rubbed the balls of her feet, they stung from a mixture of the pointed heels and stepped on toes. Grin nodded, leaned down and took her foot in his large hands, making Tanya blush. "Uh wh-what- uh- what are you doing?" She looked around wondering if anyone had noticed.

"Helping." He pressed his thumbs into the balls of her feet and rubbed in small circles. Tanya melted back into her chair. "Master taught me this. It should help some." With quick movements, he pinched the muscles and Tanya's foot cracked making her jump but then she relaxed, feeling the muscles instantly release.

"Wow! That was incredible! Haha." She smiled letting him do the same to her other foot. "I didn't know you knew this stuff."

"Understanding your body is essential to a healthy link with your mind. Both must be well to achieve balance." Tanya nodded, tilting her head at Grin. She felt like she learned something new about him every day. She glanced around the room, spotting each of her teammates. Wildwing and Mallory had broken off from each other to face some of the fate the others had to endure.

Wildwing placed the mask on, using it to intimidate people from too many requests. It worked a little but he was still surrounded by men that wanted to talk about hockey with him. Nosedive and Duke were on the dance floor, taking spins around the room.

And Mallory was- wait. Where was Mallory? Tanya looked around the room, not finding her anywhere. "Grin? Have you seen Mallory?"

Grin placed Tanya's foot down and stood up, looking around the room for his teammate. "Not for twenty minutes. Perhaps she is hiding."

"If so then that is a good idea." Tanya put her shoes back on and went to stand up but saw Grin's hand was held out for her. She took it with a smile as he helped her stand. She went to pull her hand back gently but he didn't let go.

"May I have this dance?" Grin asked.

"Oh uh- su-sure."

…..

Outside the party, Canard eyes zeroed in on Tanya.

He produced a syringe filled with from the pouch on his utility belt. Loading the dart into his puck-gun, he took aim at the blonde duck off to the side of the party sitting in a chair, his finger pressed slightly on the trigger but stopped when suddenly Grin stepped in front to Tanya to speak to her, obstructing his line of sight. He wasn't going to be able to hit her now without moving to another position. He had two options, wait for Grin to move and hope she stayed where she was or move to another position which meant jumping to another rooftop. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop would just waste precious energy he was probably going to need to fight once he knocked Tanya out, so he stayed waiting for Grin to move which looked like wasn't happening anytime soon. Even kneeling the large drake blocked her from his sight. He glared at the duck through the small scoop attached to the top of the gun. Moving his eye around the room to check where the other ducks where he spotted Wildwing. Contemplating for the moment taking another shot at him but that damned metal mask was on his face, thanks to the mask, it left him with a less than thirty percent chance of hitting his target in a head shot and the rest of his body was covered thanks to the large group of human males surrounding him to get a chance to talk to the famous duck. Again, he moved his eye to see the young kid and thief both on the dance floor with smiling human females, going around in circles and following the flow of the music.

Moving one he searched for the duck that had caused him the most trouble, Mallory. Because this was a stealth mission, he didn't have a large amount of ammo on him, so he needed to conserve for if he had an emergency. "Perhaps I should take her out just to put an end to her meddling." He scuffed quietly to himself but no matter how much he searched around the dance floor or in the crowds he could not find her. A little nervous, he checked his surroundings. The mental image of her suddenly standing over him with a gun put his nerves on edge. If she somehow found him out here and was coming after him then he was inclined to believe her to be part blood hound. Confirming he was being ridiculous, he shook his head and looked through the scoop again. "Is it possible that she didn't come?"

A flicker to red hair made him snap his sight to the right. There outside on the balcony she stood staring out directly at him. Canard tensed, his shoulders locking up and his eyes widening, thinking he had been caught. He didn't dare move as she stared him down, sweat gathered at his brow. _"Again, she found me so easily!"_ He narrowed his eye at her through the scoop when he noticed something. She wasn't looking at him, she was looking past him at the city skyline. Canard didn't dare twitch for fear he would attract her attention like at predator taking notice of fleeing prey. _"Since when have I come to think of her as my predator? Since when have I found her so intimating?"_ Shifting his recently healed leg he took notice of the tenderness of the muscle there from his last run in with her. _"Well she is dangerous, I have to give her that."_ He growled to himself in his mind that she had caused a instinctual reaction of fear. _"This duck mind fucked me and I've only run into her three times!"_ Mallory turned away from him, pacing the balcony in irritation.

Finally, he could get a look at her now that he wasn't ready to make a run for it. _"I guess she cleans up fairly decent."_ He begrudgingly admitted to himself. Still didn't stop him from wanting to shoot her. This was supposed to be a stealth mission, tranquilize Tanya, grab her and then leave. The other ducks weren't priority but she tended to get in the way. Finishing her off may be his best bet at procuring Tanya without difficulty. Grinding his teeth in thought he weighed his options. Glancing back at Tanya he saw that Grin was not leaving her side, currently the two were dancing and the way the large drake was looking at her left no doubt in his mind that Tanya would be almost impossible to snatch.

Mallory on the other hand was far enough away from the party that if she tried to run, she wouldn't make it back before the serum took affect and knocked her out. So, turning his scoop back to the red head, he took aim at her back. It was time to end this problem. He squeezed down on the trigger and watched in satisfaction as it hit its mark, burying the tranquilizer dart directly in her shoulder. Mallory fell forward but gained her balance quickly and ran off the balcony into the room. She would go down in seconds.

Grabbing the grapple hook he shot it over attaching it to the balcony and used it to gain entrance to the balcony Mallory had just disappeared through. Time to end the game of cat and mouse and this time, Mallory was the mouse.

…..

Mallory paced the balcony, trying to blow off some steam, not wanting take her anger out on the rude human that called her teammates feathered rats while dancing with her. She had ripped her hands away from him and walked off the dance floor, storming away from the party to get as far as possible without outright leaving. After winding her way through the abandoned halls of the other side of the building, she found this balcony that overlooked downtown. The fresh air was calming.

After a few minutes she felt it was safe to go back without having to worry about attacking the obnoxious ass who felt the need to dance with her just to insult her friends. Grumbling a few choice words, she turned to walk back in when sharp pain erupted in the back of her shoulder, knocking the wind out of her and pushing her forward. She stumbled but caught herself before face planting. Running into the room and taking cover, she reached back to feel what hit her. Wrapping her fingers around the dart she yanked it out to get a look at it, it was Puckworldian. "Canard." She growled, realizing just how much danger she was in.

Staying down she ducked out of the room, disoriented she stumbled down the halls, using the walls to keep herself up right as her vision burred and the world spun. Her legs felt numb. Taking another step, one leg gave out sending her to her knees. Attempting to stand again was useless, crawling into a room on her left, she pushed the door closed with her foot and weakly crawled towards a couch. Mallory wished she had worn her com tonight instead of all this jewelry. Unable to move anymore Mallory rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling, hoping he wouldn't find her.

The sound of footsteps approaching and the door opening told her she was out of luck. The blurry shape of Canard looking down at her was the last thing she saw.

…..

Canard walked calmly through the halls following the way Mallory had most likely taken. The patterns in the carpets gave away which direction she took. Catching up with her easily, he saw her crawl into a room and close the door behind her. Following the duck in and finding her staring up at the ceiling, he couldn't help but find this victory to be almost hollow. This hadn't been a far fight but what was fair in life? What they did to him wasn't fair either.

Canard watched the tranquilizer take full effect and her eyes rolled back despite the fight she put up. He took time now to observer her. Very beautiful. Shame she was a traitor like the rest of them. Leaning over he picked the red head up with ease and placed her on one of the many sofa's. Reaching down he wrapped his hand around her throat and squeezed, she wheezed for a second then no sound left her as her airways were cut off. Her face began changing color indicating she was dying.

Pain like being stabbed in the temple stuck across his skull. Memories he didn't understand flashed through his mind, confusing him. Things that didn't make sense with what he knew. He grabbed his head in pain, freeing her throat in the process. Shaking his head back and forth to clear his mind he narrowed his eyes at her. Stepping forward he went to finish what he started, his hand going back around her neck but froze in his actions.

For some reason, he didn't want to hurt her. Why? Looking at her face, he observed the duck who had been making his life difficult. Memories of working closely with her and the other ducks back on Puckworld keep coming to mind. Most of all he had memories surfacing about Wildwing, ones that weren't there before. What was going on with him?

Confused and angry, he pulled his hand back and clenched it at his side. Staring down at her for a moment before the sound of someone running down the hall towards them got him moving. Activating his teleporter, Canard disappeared in a flash of green light, going back to the Raptor and leaving the unconscious Mallory to whoever found her first.

…..


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

Canard stared down at his hand, confused as to why he didn't kill her. Something in him didn't want to and he couldn't force his body to cooperate with his mind. It was a strange sensation, almost like he wasn't himself. Why would he not kill her when he had the chance? Looking back over the rooftops and back at the tall building the ducks where in, he sighed. Resigning himself to another mission failed thanks to _her_.

" _She somehow always gets the upper hand."_ He thought to himself, realizing that he needed to get moving, the sedative would only keep her out for a short time, thirty minutes at most. The tan duck turned away from the view and speed walked back towards his destination. "To beat her I need to know my enemy… It's time I did some studying." Clenching his fist, he walked with purpose. Everything needed to be planned and set up so that he could work without interruption.

He needed to figure out a way to throw her off her game so he could get the upper hand.

…

Wondering down the fancy corridor, Wildwing searched for Mallory with his damp jacket over his arm. The strong smell of drying champagne unpleasantly wafted off it. "Why did she have to leave her com?" He was grouchy, especially after his last dance. The woman clearly though she should be leading and caused him to bump into a server holding a tray of full champagne glasses which had been dumped over his shoulders and soaked his jacket. However, there was a good side to this… nobody else was bothering him for a dance. With Nosedive's help, they attempted to dry his jacket off with paper towels in the bathroom. Thankfully, Mallory hadn't seen the embarrassing incident, at least he hoped she didn't.

The red head was storming out of the ballroom when he last saw her. Figuring she was just going to get some fresh air to cool down, the balcony was the first place he looked but the elusive duck wasn't there. The worst part was, she didn't wear her com, which made finding her that much more difficult. There were many reasons why they were supposed to wear their coms all the time, one reason being if they were in trouble or they needed to save the world again. The other reason being what his current predicament right now was… Not being able to find her.

He groaned to himself, as he walked down the hall, just wanting to go home. Wildwing paused mid step at calling the Pond home. Odd, he didn't know when he started considering that place home but it was.

Meanwhile, as Wildwing was searching the halls, Mallory was just waking up. She groggily sat up and brought her hand to her head. "What happened?" Shaking her head, she was able to get her bearings quickly. "Wait! Canard!" Standing a little shakily, she searched the room for any sign of the pesky mallard. "I realize he is our friend and he is confused but that duck is a giant pain in the-ouch!" She groaned holding her sore shoulder, her fingers brushing the spot she had been hit with a dart. "How long have I been out?"

Looking at the clock on the wall it only read 9:30 pm. "I was only out for about thirty to forty minutes! Why didn't he kill me? He had the chance." She went over to the mirror in the room and straightened her appearance. Doing her best, she moved her feathers around to cover the bruising that would surely soon show on her shoulder. The humans probably wouldn't notice but her teammates would.

"Mallory?" She jumped, then settled when she realized it was Wildwing looking for her. She walked out of the room to meet him and ended up running right into him. Bumping off him in surprise, she stumbled back since her balance was off. He was fast and grabbed her, making sure she didn't hit the floor. "You okay Mallory?"

"Been better."

"What's wrong?" He watched her concerned, his eyes searching over her person to see if anything was out of place.

"I was attacked, again." She sneered, showing him her back. His eyes instantly narrowed at the bruise forming.

"By who?"

"Canard. Tranquilizer dart."

"What? Canard was here?" He turned her around to face him. "What happened?"

She pulled back from his hands that were holding her upper arms. "I was hit coming back in from the balcony and tried to run but didn't make it far. Last thing I saw was him over me. I don't know why he didn't kill me, it would have been an opportune moment."

"Maybe you weren't his planned target." He suggested, thinking about why Canard would be here.

"Probably not."

"Let's get out of here. I think everyone had had enough for the night anyway." He held out his arm so she could take it.

Mallory slid her hand in place with a nodded but paused when the smell of drying champagne hit her nose. "Uh what's that smell?"

Wildwing rolled his eyes, a light blush touched his cheeks which couldn't be seen thanks to the mask on his face. "I'll tell you about it later." He growled as they walked back out to the party.

…..

Tanya rubbed some antibacterial over the puncture wound, making the red head hiss at how tender it was.

"Well, I for one am gl-gla- uh ya know- happy that you're okay."

"Thanks Tanya." Mallory stared ahead thinking about Canard and why he didn't kill her. She was confused by him. Not only that, she wondered if Wildwing was going to have what it takes to make a tough call and take out Canard, if needed. Not that she was hoping for that, it was the last thing she wanted but if it came down to a choice between her teammates and Canard, then the choice was easy for her. Wildwing was another story. What if she was the one who had to take Canard out because he couldn't do it? He would probably hate her.

"What's wrong Mallory?" Tanya knew her friend, something was really bothering her.

"It's Wildwing and Canard. I don't know if he will have what it takes to stop Canard if we can't save him." She was blunt. The blond tech seemed a little surprised by the comment but nodded in understanding.

"He's a good leader. He'll do what's right in the end."

"What if he makes the decision too late?"

"What if Canard can be saved?" Tanya countered. "From your personal experience, it seems like you think he c-can't be but in the end Canard didn't kill you when he could have. That's got to mean something. I-I think somewhere in there he is fighting. Canard and Wildwing are a lot alike. Wildwing wouldn't stop fighting."

Mallory couldn't argue with that. _"It was true, he had no reason not to kill me. So, why didn't he? What was his real reason for being there tonight?"_ She looked at the blond tech putting away the equipment behind her. _"What is he after?... Maybe it's not what he was after but who?"_

…..

It was hot, the sun beat down on the drake that was on the rooftop across from the Pond in the mid-afternoon. Having dark armor and a dark metal mask on his face didn't help with the heat. To top it off his feathers felt like they were sticking to him from his sweat. Grabbing the bottle of water, he drank it down quickly and returned to the task of waiting.

Studying the team and each individual member would better help prepare him for the next fight. Canard paid careful attention to their habits, at least the habits he could observe. When they were underground they were completely cut off to him. He had to observe them when they were on the ice or outside of the Pond. Most of the time they went out in twos or more, so attacking them was not an option.

Watching had slowly revealed the different relationships between everyone. There was one that interested him the most, Tanya and Grin's relationship. It was obvious the blond wasn't quite aware of it but it was clear that Grin was. There was an unspoken tension there that only existed when they were alone together. If Grin was the duck that was constantly guarding over Tanya then getting to her was going to be incredibly difficult.

Then there was Mallory. The more he observed her, the more she intrigued him. It was a curious reaction on his part. Not sure what it meant he brushed it off, figuring it was just because she seemed to beat him at almost every corner. That would soon end though. He would find her weakness and use it against her. Speaking of the red head she was walking out of the Pond with the ex-thief right now. He pressed a button on his mask that zoomed in on the two. The thief was tricky and an expert at stealth, he had to be careful sneaking around him. Out of the all the ducks he was the one that Canard avoided the most. Since both ducks where more than a match for him together he would not follow them today. Better not to push his luck. More studying of each duck was required. "Besides…" He zoomed in a little more on Mallory's butt as she walked away. "The view isn't bad."

…..

The rain seemed relentless as it came down. She had been out on the duck-cycle when the clouds suddenly moved in. A nice day of going out to the mall had turned into her stopping a robbery. By the time she answered all the cop's questions and gotten out of there, a heavy storm hit.

Waiting for a couple hours in a coffee shop for the storm to pass seemed like a good idea but the storm had yet to let up. She growled as she tapped her fingers on the armrest of the plushy chair. A few humans came up and asked for a picture and autograph, which she gave with a smile but otherwise it had been uneventful.

It was dark now and the rain finally slowed to the point where she could drive back to the Pond. Thanking the coffee shop employees for their service she went out to her bike. Getting on the soaked vehicle, Mallory growled at how wet her pants were now from the rain covered seat. "Whatever I just want to get home."

Driving back the rain started getting heavy again and Mallory cursed her luck. With how hard it was coming down, it was getting hard to see. "And I didn't wear a bra today." She began to slow down but the shape of someone standing in the road ahead of her made her swerve the bike to avoid hitting the person. Losing control, the bike fell on its side, tossing Mallory off. Lucky for her she was unharmed. The same wasn't going to be said for the idiot standing in the middle of the road! She stood up with balled up fists, ready to rip the person a new one as she approached the individual. The rain didn't allow her to see him from afar, so as she approached the clearer he became. Stopping in her tracks her breath hitched seeing that it was Canard with a gun aimed at her.

"Hello Mallory." She raised her hands, the cold rain beating down on both Puckworldians. She mentally prayed that a car would come out of nowhere and hit him so she could get away. He raised the gun up and aimed at her forehead. "You have been a real pain in my ass."

She waited but he didn't pull the trigger, something was stopping him, she could see it in his face that he was confused. She needed to stall him. "Then why didn't you kill me at the party? You had every chance."

Canard narrowed his eyes and he walked closer to her, making Mallory take a step back. He was practically right in front of her when he stopped, gun now aimed at her heart. Without his permission, his eyes moved down and up her body, taking in how her clothes were clinging to her skin, her shirt giving a pep show of her large chest. He felt desire race through him, much to his shock. Mentally shaking off the lusty haze he focused on the matter at hand. "I'm here to correct that mistake."

"Deep down I don't think you want to."

"Don't tell me what I want. I know what I want." He ground his teeth as he watched her.

Suddenly the sound of car tires screeching caught his attention. He turned to see a car come to a sudden stop behind him, barely avoiding hitting him. Mallory used the distraction to smack the gun out of his hand. Bringing her knee up into his gut, causing Canard to stumble back while the woman in the car could only watch on in horror as the two alien ducks began fighting right in front of her vehicle. Mallory launched her right foot in a round house kick that she aimed for Canard's head, hoping to take him out in one move but he was too fast. The duck moved his head out of the way just in time. Quickly stepping up her footwork, Mallory released a barge of kicks on Canard that he successful dodged. Ducking down he did a leg sweep that caught Mallory off guard, knocking her back onto the hood of the car, causing the woman inside to yelp in fright. Canard went to punch her in the head while she was down, his fist was aimed right at her forehead but Mallory moved her head to the side missing the punch, in turn his fist dented the hood of the car. The human yelled in outrage, shaking her fist at Canard who ignored her. He went to hit Mallory again but again she dodged the punch and he put another dent in the hood. Lifting her legs, she wrapped them around Canard's neck, strangling him and then delivering three swift punches to the face.

"YOU GO GIRL!" The human in the car could be heard through the windows, cheering Mallory on and raising her fists in the air.

Canard growled, after the third punch he used his strength to lift Mallory's body up off the hood, only to slam her back down. Refusing to let go of his neck she tightened her grip. Canard did it again then punched her in her unprotected side, forcing her to release him with a cry of pain. Using her feet, she pushed Canard back and kicked him in the chest. He slid back but kept his footing.

The human got out the car a threw a can of soda at him, barely missing his head. He watched it go by his face in annoyance and growled at the women. She yelped and jumped back into her car, locking the doors.

While this was happening, Mallory rolled off the hood and ran down an alley, Canard swore and went in pursuit of the pretty duck. Running down the wet alley she took a right then left and ended up at a dead end, thinking fast she used the black metal fire escape stairs to get to the rooftop. Canard turned the corner to see Mallory already halfway up the stairs to the top.

"You're not getting away that easy!" He fired a grappling hook at the top of the building, using it to reel himself up with incredible speed. He got to the roof the same time Mallory did.

Looking back, she thought that she lost him but not wanting to wait around, she ran across the slick flat metal and made it to the next roof, which happened to be a little trickier. There were more curves and tilts to this roof, if she made one misstep then Mallory would slip right off and fall to the ground fifty feet below. She could probably move a lot faster but Mallory didn't want to tempt fate, so she focused on her careful footing. She cringed, her legs still a little weak from running up those flights of stairs. Carefully stepping out and so focused on her footing, she didn't see Canard sneaking up on her.

He watched her as she kept her arms out for balance. Canard for his part took aim at her back, cocking his gun. The sound cause Mallory to panic, she turned too quickly and lost her footing. Falling to her side, the duck was on a one-way trip to the cement below. This time she didn't have a pool to break her fall. _"This is it!"_ She felt the lubricated rain covered roof slip from her fingertips. The feeling of ground dropping out from under her seized her limbs as the frightening weightlessness of being airborne took hold of her. The fingers of her right hand were out of reach from the roof, she was a goner. Everything was in slow motion as she began to descend. A short cry left her mouth but stopped almost instantly as a hand wrapped around her wrist. Looking up at her savior she was stunned at the sight of Canard holding onto her. He watched her with no expression, not pulling her up or tossing her away, just watching. He acted as if holding all her weight with one arm didn't bother him, it probably didn't. Finally, he stood up, raising his hand he pulled her up onto the roof, wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her to him to help balance her as the tops of her shoes brushed over the edge and up the side until they were settled on solid ground.

Mallory was almost out of breath from her near-death experience but that didn't mean she was out of the woods. Canard had yet to release her. What just happened? He seemed to react out of instinct. Looking at his face, he seemed confused by his own actions as well. Honestly, she didn't know why he did but it wasn't like this was something she was going to point out.

They just stood there staring at each other not sure what to do. When suddenly Canard's brows scrunched in anger. He grabbed her by the neck and dragged her to the previous roof, there he pinned her to the door that was the only roof access. Mallory grabbed his wrist, trying to pry it from her neck.

"Fuck you Canard!" She yelled, assuming he was going to kill her when he suddenly crashed his mouth down on hers. She gasped, her eyes widened in alarm and shock. Up until this point Canard had shown nothing but distain for her. So where was this coming from? Her heart was racing, as she felt the cold rain pouring down on them.

Against her wishes she felt excitement light her stomach from his kiss. Grabbing the back of her hair and tilted her had back, he deepened the kiss. Mallory's eyes closed of their own accord, a hot flush touching her cheeks, making her dizzy. She responded to the kiss which only seemed to make Canard more aggressive. He growled and slipped his tongue into her mouth and she responded in kind. His other hand that wasn't holding her neck possessively, slipped down the front of her body to grab one breast, causing her to gasp and arch her back, pressing her body into his. She pulled back to breath only to have his hungry mouth cover hers again. His left hand moved further down her body to her inner thigh, slowly moving higher.

It snapped her out of the spell she had been under. Realizing, to her horror, what she was doing, she kneed Canard in the balls, making him drop down in pain. With no time to catch her breath, Mallory ran over the rooftops away from the drake.

Running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Mallory was careful not to have another repeat of what happened last time. She stopped to glance around herself to see where she was and if Canard had given chase. He was nowhere in sight.

She almost sighed in relief, wanting nothing more than to forget what had just happened. However, he suddenly appeared not far from her, running across the rooftops she had just come from. His deadly glare zeroed in on her as he ran at her much faster than she had been running across the roofs.

"Crap!" She turned and high tailed it off the current roof. No doubt the people below in their apartments were wondering what all the noise was as the two ducks dashed through the night. Mallory made a large circle back towards her discarded bike. Glancing back while being careful of her footing, Mallory found Canard far too close and gaining.

Seeing she was almost in reach Canard pumped his legs harder, feeling the burning in his muscles. They ached for him to stop running but he refused to listen and he closed in on his target. Throwing his body into it, he spread his arms and tackled the small female from behind.

Feeling his heavy body collide with her back sent Mallory right off her feet. She twisted in his hold mid tackle so she didn't land on her face. They rolled to a stop, with Canard grabbing Mallory's wrists and pinning them to the ground above her head. "Stop!" He ordered. Mallory ignored him and tried to push him off but he was too strong.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" She yelled but he remained unaffected, staring at her strangely he seemed lost in thought until he moved his head back towards hers. Mallory's eyes rounded, his mouth was almost on hers again but she bucked hard under him giving her the space she needed to pull her feet up and push them into his stomach. Kicking him off but she put too much strength behind her kick, accidentally knocking him too far back and head first into a wall.

Mallory gasped when he didn't move. Standing up she approached slowly, worried she may have killed him. "Canard?" He remained still, completely motionless. "Oh no." Mallory ran over and checked his pulse, he was still breathing. Letting out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding, Mallory opened her com and called Wildwing. "Wildwing come in!"

He answered almost immediately. "What is it Mallory? Are you okay?" Guilt hit her hard at hearing his voice when just a moment ago she had allowed Canard to kiss her.

"I'm fine but you need to get to me quickly. Canard attacked me and I've knocked him out. I think I hurt him pretty bad."

His eyes widened but he quickly pulled himself together. "Alright, we'll be there as fast as well can. Send me your location." He ordered, hanging up his com. Mallory sent her coordinates over and watched Canard, there was blood steadily leaking from his head. "Damnit."

…..


	9. Chapter 9

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

AN: I'm going to try to stick to one update a week cause otherwise I start to let things sit for too long. We'll see how this goes, hopefully I can keep up. Thank you to my readers for the kind emails and reviews. You guys are the best. :)

…..

"WRAITH! Where is he!?" Dragaunus' enraged voice echoed down the red halls of the ship.

Wraith shook as he stood before the irate Saurian warlord. "My lord, I fear the ducks have captured him."

"Well order him to escape and return immediately!"

Backing away, Wraith clutched his staff in fright. "I cannot. He has to hear a verbal command. Even then how he chooses to carry out that task is up to him. With this spell, he is not a mindless puppet like that fat manager was. We have convinced him that we are his allies by changing his memories and therefore he agrees to work with us… with some hypnotic persuasion included."

"How long will the spell last?" Dragaunus' nostrils steamed, his eyes glowed with barely contained fury.

"I can't be sure. He has begun to fight more frequently against my magic. The spells need to be recast every three days now." In the beginning Wraith only had to work on Canard once a month but slowly in dwindled down to every few weeks, then weeks, and now days. The old Saurian feared that only too soon, his spells would no longer be effective. "Canard has a strong mind. We need to break him and soon."

"We must get him back before the spell runs out. Otherwise we'll have only given the ducks back an ally and Canard has a way of … ruining my plans. Wildwing is even worse. With those two together I have no doubt that conquering this world will be close to impossible." Dragaunus grew quiet but then smiled cruelly. "How close do you need to be to place a spell on him?"

"I must lay my hands on his filthy feathered head." Wraith stuck his tongue out in distaste, an immature action for how old he was.

"We are going to let Canard return to normal for a time."

"My lord?" Wraith asked confused.

"Don't worry. I have a plan to rid us of those wretched water fowl for good. We're going to let those miserable mallards get comfortable with their friend again. Let them reunite and rejoice. Then we will get Canard, put him back under the spell and send him back to them with instructions. He will continue to pretend to be their friend, then take them out one by one from the inside out." Wraith watched Dragaunus, keeping his staff close. The red lizard frightened his underlings when he got this way. "They won't even know what hit them and when they do, it'll be too late."

…..

Tanya shook her head, looking at the charts. She turned to the others crowded around in the room. "Alright well - uh he uh, he has a concussion."

Wildwing sighed and rubbed his head. "Alright, everyone go to bed. I'll take first watch for the night."

"Wi-Wildwing, I think it would be better if I took the first watch. Because of his head injury, I'll need to keep a close eye on him and continue to provide care throughout the night. I know what to do. The first night will be the most difficult, so i-its important I take first watch." She advised her leader.

He nodded. "I'll be ready if you need anything. Everyone else, get some rest."

Duke and Nosedive left, the youngest member of the team looked back at the duck laying unconscious on the table. Duke put an arm over his shoulder to distract him. "Hey kid wha'd'ya say we play a game of air hockey."

Smirking the young duck went back to his carefree attitude. "Ready to lose again so soon?"

"Oh please!" The sound of their joking faded the further they got down the hall.

Grin looked over at Tanya, checking that she was okay but Tanya was studying her charts, a small blush was on her cheeks as she glanced over at him but then quickly looked away. Realizing that he wasn't needed the large duck made his exit. "If anyone needs me, I will be mediating in my room." His heavy footsteps could be heard going down the hall.

Mallory and Wildwing were the last ones to leave. "That means you too Mallory. You should change out of those wet clothes and get some rest too." He said, his mind still on his best friend laying in the infirmary.

"I don't want her alone with him. He can't be trusted." Mallory spoke up, still in her soaked clothes from her fight with Canard, Wildwing's white jacket covered her top. Seeing her condition, Wildwing gave her his jacket to help keep warm but also to cover her up a little, the shirt didn't hide anything when wet.

Wildwing sighed, running a hand through his hair. "He's tied down. She'll be fine. I'll be on call if she needs help."

Mallory wanted to argue but she could see the tension in Wildwing, he was stressed. "You're angry." She stated.

Looking at the redhead he kept walking to his room. "You didn't have to hit him on the head as hard as you did."

"I didn't mean to hurt him." She growled, getting annoyed that this is what he was angry about, so annoyed that she let some information slip. "He jumped on top of me and pinned me down. What was I supposed to do?"

"Pinned you down? Why would he do that?" He stopped walking and Mallory froze.

"I-I don't know. It was a fight, I didn't have time to contemplate why he was doing it." She said quickly. The team leader looked ready to ask more questions but stopped seeing Mallory pull his jacket off in the hallway. "Here. Thanks for letting me borrow this." She realized her shirt was still a little see-through but it wasn't something he hadn't already seen.

"Uh yeah sure." He took the white jacket mechanically, making sure to not outright stare at her chest and remain professional, though the task was difficult.

"I better take a shower so I don't catch a cold or something." She started to walk down the hall away from him, a little annoyed that he was more worried about Canard then her. Remembering he gave her his jacket, she felt a little guilty. Stopping she turned back slightly. "Thanks for being a gentleman and lending me your jacket."

"Sure." He threw it over his shoulder and watched her walk away, wondering what happened on that rooftop.

…..

An hour later, Wildwing laid on his bunk bed, staring at the metal ceiling. "What happened on that rooftop that she would hit Canard that hard? Mallory wouldn't do something like that on purpose unless something happened that caused her to react strongly." He knew Mallory, something about the situation and her description kept bugging him, it seemed off. "What is she hiding from me?" Realizing he wasn't going to be able to stop thinking about it he sat up abruptly and jumped down from his bed. Walking out the door he quickly made his way to Mallory's bunk. Knocking on the door, the sound of movement could be heard behind it.

"Who is it?" Mallory's muffled voice could be heard through the door.

"Me." He waited impatiently with his arms crossed.

The door opened a second later, Mallory had a towel wrapped around herself, her hair was still dripping from her shower. His eyes widened for a second then went back to normal as he looked at her scantly clad dripping wet form. "Uh…" He wasn't sure what he was going to say a second ago. Seeing that he was just standing there staring Mallory rolled her eyes. Grabbing his hand, she yanked him into the room for some privacy so she wasn't out on display.

"What's up?" She closed the door and walked back into her room, intending on finishing drying off.

"Tell me more about what happened on the rooftop." He sat down on her bed.

Mallory wasn't sure whether to be a little sad or angry that this is what he came to talk about. Again, it revolved around Canard. "I told you what happened." She put a brush through her hair, combing it easily.

Wildwing spoke again. "It's wrong." She tensed and paused with the brush in her hair.

Wildwing watched her intensely, not liking the reaction he was seeing. It only made him think that what he thought might have happened was more and more of a possibility. Canard had a weakness for beautiful women, quite literally couldn't help himself back on Puckworld. He had seen it himself first hand and with how see through Mallory's shirt had been… He could guess what happened that disturbed Mallory that she wouldn't want to talk about it.

"Did he do something to you Mallory that would make you react so strongly?" He stood up and walked behind her, placing his bare hands on her naked shoulders. He could feel how tight her muscles were under his palms.

"Yes." She answered honestly.

Wildwing took a breath, realizing now the situation may have been a little more delicate then he realized. "What did he do?"

…..

Five hours into her watch and Tanya couldn't help but think about how this could change the team dynamic and she wasn't sure it would be for the better. Tanya was in her own world until Canard started talking in his sleep. He was turning his head from side to side saying no repeatedly. She went to wake him from his nightmares but instead he started shaking uncontrollably, almost violently. Making sure he wasn't having a seizure she checked his vitals and found it to be fine, it was something in the dream that was making him do this. Opening her com she called Wildwing, who happened to be with Mallory, asking them to come down to the infirmary.

"No!" Canard started thrashing violently and yelling in his sleep against his restraints. The ties holding him slowly broke as his thrashing continued. Suddenly he sat straight up and looked directly at her.

She backed up a step and then put her hand on her chest. "Ca-Canard? Are you ok-" Canard lunged at her and wrapped his hands around her neck. He was off the table and standing over her before she could react. Tanya opened her mouth trying yell out for help but no sound could leave her mouth. "NO! FUCKING DIE!" Canard yelled, clearly not seeing Tanya. He picked her up only to smashed her down on the floor, refusing to release her throat. She grabbed at his shoulders and hands, trying to get him to stop, even started punching him but he wouldn't move. Panic was being to override sense and she slapped frantically at his face, her mouth wide open to take in air that wasn't allowed to pass. Everything was getting dark and all she could see was Canard sitting on top of her, baring his teeth down at her. Her slaps were getting weaker as she tried to push him off. Her face felt as if it was swelling as the blood was trapped in her head by his hands.

Wildwing and Mallory ran into the lab to see Canard wasn't in the bed anymore but was sitting on the floor and Tanya's feet where sticking out from under him. Running around the side of the bed they were horrified to see that Canard was strangling her. Tanya's eyes were wide and blood shoot from the lack of oxygen. Her mouth was open as she tried to take breaths that she desperately needed.

"CANARD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Wildwing yelled grabbing Canard's right arm while Mallory grabbed his left. Both trying to pull him off the suffocating Tanya who was fading fast. Wildwing saw her eyes start to roll back into her head and knew he had to stop Canard, even if that meant hurting him. However, Mallory had already come to this conclusion and moved in front of Canard, bringing her knee up swiftly into his face and knocking him out with one extremely hard hit. Canard went down, releasing Tanya's neck and falling on his back.

Poor Tanya lost consciousness. Picking her up off the floor, they placed her on one of the Medicoms. The machine whirled to life and began scanning her neck. Revealing her trachea was bruised and now swelling closed, her vitals were dropping fast. Tilting her head back they both quickly and carefully inserted a tube down her throat allowing air to pass and connected it to a mechanical ventilator which immediately began pumping oxygen down into her lungs. Once Tanya's vitals stabilized, Wildwing called the others down. He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a large sigh from the built-up worry.

Mallory watched her friend laying on the Medicom, the only thing keeping her alive was the tube that they forced down her throat. Grinding her teeth, she turned to Canard's unconscious form and marched over to him. "Wake up! You have to answer for this!" She grabbed his collar, hoisting him up by it and slapping his across the face with the back of her hand. It did nothing to wake him so she slapped him again, this time harder. "Wake up!"

"Mallory! Stop!" Wildwing grabbed her balled up fist, stopping it from colliding with Canard's left eye.

"This is your fault!" She yelled back at him, losing control of her temper.

He acted as if he had been slapped. "Wha-what?"

"You heard me! I warned you he was up to no good and you didn't listen!"

"We don't know what happened here yet. He obviously wasn't himself."

"That's the problem!" Mallory shouted.

"Stand down!" He ordered.

Mallory glared at him but dropped Canard harshly back to the floor and took a step back. It was then that the others arrived. "Wow! What happened?" Duke's eyes did a quick survey of the situation. His eyes lingered on Tanya strapped to the machine but he forced them away to look at what was happening with the two angry ducks facing off. Wildwing and Mallory were staring aggressively at each other, both refusing to back down. Tension in the air was thick, never had these two ducks been at war with each other like they were now. Walking over Duke moved right in between the two. "Alright guys. Take it easy."

Nosedive stayed back and out of the situation, his eyes moved back and forth uneasily between his brother and Mallory. Grin came in after Nosedive, the moment he saw Tanya, his fists clenched together. "What happened?" He demanded an answer. Everyone turned to him, his question demanded an answer.

"Canard happened." Mallory answered.

"Enough Mallory. I'll explain." Wildwing turned to face the others, expecting her to follow orders as usual.

"He tried to kill Tanya." She supplied for him.

"Enough! Get out!" Everyone took a step back with how vicious the order had been. Mallory glared but listened and quickly left the room without a word going back to her bunk.

Once she was gone, Wildwing took a breath and explained. "We don't know what happened. It sounded like he was having nightmares and Tanya called us to help with him because he was thrashing and fighting something. When we came down he was trying to strangle Tanya but I don't think he was seeing her."

"Is she going to be okay?" Nosedive asked, looking at the machine monitoring Tanya's health and then at the pale duck on it.

"She'll need to heal." He looked over at his best friend on the floor. "Duke help me get him onto the other Medicom. We need to strap him down and make sure he stays down." Duke and Nosedive helped without question but Grin stayed next to Tanya. He glared at the unconscious duck that had hurt his teammate.

Once Canard was strapped down, Wildwing organized a watch. Grin would take first watch with orders to contact him immediately if either awoke and under no circumstances was he to interact with Canard until he was present. The same went for everyone. Mallory had been left out because he believed that currently she couldn't be trusted around Canard. Making sure Tanya was okay, Wildwing left and went to track down Mallory. They weren't done talking.

…..

The talk he had been hoping to have with Mallory had not gone as he planned, emotions were running high for both of them right now. After learning what actually happened on the rooftop between Mallory and Canard, Wildwing was having a hard time with his hurt over the situation as it was.

"Mallory your condemning him before we've even had the chance to help him!"

"Oh come one Wildwing! First, he shoots me in the side, tries to blow me up and throws me off a building, then he tries to shoot you in the head, now he almost strangled Tanya! Who else has to get hurt for you to wake up! Get over your fucking man crush and really see what's going on! Dragaunus probably wants him here to screw with our heads!" She yelled, wanting to pull her hair out. She may have screwed up on the roof but she at least realized what she was doing and kicked him off. All the evidence was laid out before Wildwing and he wasn't doing anything, instead he was blatantly ignoring it!

Wildwing watched her, hurt and anger shown clearly in his expression. Then he said something that staggered her. "I think we need to take some time apart Mallory."

"What?" The potency of her voice died down to a quiet whisper, not quiet believing what she was hearing.

Wildwing took a breath, staring at her and thinking about what he was about to do. "As your leader, I need to keep a clear head. With everything that's going on, I can't do that with…" His voice died off, not sure how to go on. "There is a strict code in the military about not dating teammates and I think we need to be following it." He was angry but part of him hated himself for saying this. Throwing the military code of ethics at Mallory was definitely a slap in the face, after all it was he who pursued her no matter what she said about following the rules.

Her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe the nerve of him saying _that_ to her. Not able to come up with anything to say, Mallory walked passed him, bumping his shoulder harshly on the way out. Instinctively he went to reach for her while opening his mouth to speak but closed it quickly and curled his fist at his side. This needed to happen even if it did hurt.

…..


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

Thanks to the medicine the swelling in Tanya's throat went down and the next day they could remove the tube from her airway. Her neck was in a brace for the time being just to be safe. Mallory came to check on her often, always sending a glare Canard's way. He had yet to wake up from her knee to the forehead. Part of her wondered if she had caused him permanent damage.

Nosedive flipped through his comic discreetly observing the redhead staring worriedly at the blond. He was on watch right now, but it was his brothers turn soon. Wildwing took watches often since he wouldn't let Mallory take watch, things between the two were tense and awkward. They played it off normally but the air between them was anything but normal.

Everyone else heard about the break up but didn't say anything about it. When Mallory wasn't looking Wildwing would watch her and when Wildwing wasn't looking Mallory would watch him. It was a little ridiculous in Nosedive's opinion but trying to bring up the topic with either duck was asking for trouble, so he kept his thoughts to himself. "What time is it?" Nosedive asked, he knew the time but he just wanted to remind her of the time.

She looked at her com, her forehead scrunching. "Almost two. I better go. If anybody needs me I'm gonna do some laps in the pool." She got up and left quickly to avoid his brother. When she was gone he sighed.

"Man, I wish things would go back to the way they were before." His brother had been significantly happier before all of this. Now he had gone back to being moody and mopey. He didn't like it when Wing acted like this. It was as if they were back to the first month of being stuck on Earth.

The young duck stood and stretched, his back a little stiff from sitting for so long. "Man I'm getting old before I'm old!" His back cracked and he groaned.

"We are only as old as we feel."

Turning to the duck that just walked in Dive smile. "Grinster. What'cha doing here? Bro has next watch."

"I wish to check on her." Grin walked by Nosedive right next to Tanya's bed. Grabbing a chair, he pulled it up to her bedside and sat down.

"Well since you're here. Do you mind keeping watch until Wing gets here? He's running late and I have a comic book with my name all over it."

"Sure."

"Thanks man." Nosedive disappeared out of the door, glancing back curiously at Grin and how he was watching Tanya. The door closed behind him and cut off his view of the large duck, staring at the team tech. "When did that start happening?"

…..

Duke walked into the kitchen, intending to find something to snake on but stopped short seeing Wildwing sitting at the table hunched over the table with a beer in hand. His leader hardly ever drank and his body posture displayed depression. Obviously, he was upset but it was the look on his face and in his eyes that caught Duke's attention. 

"I know that face." Duke grabbed himself a beer from the large fridge and sat in one of the many chairs across from his leader. "Nothing hurts like a woman can."

Wildwing scoffed. "Yeah."

"What happened Wing?" His leader looked tired.

"I broke up with Mallory."

"Wow. Really? When?"

"Yesterday."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that but why? Why are you and Mal Mal on the outs?"

"She's too much to handle right now and I'm too hurt."

"Yah I noticed the tension between you two the other day. So wha' are ya hurt over?" The ex-thief took a sip of his beer.

Wildwing didn't look up when he answered. "She kissed Canard."

Duke almost spit his drink out but instead choked it down. "Wha?"

"On the rooftop. She said he did it to her and it surprised her, she didn't know what to do but in the heat of the moment she kissed him back a little."

Duke looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "Shit."

"Yeah." Wildwing took another swig of his beer. "What would you do if you were me?"

"I don' know. To be fair, I've done the same thing Mal did. It's true sometimes the heat of the moment does get to you. Is it right?... No. But it does happen. Haven't you ever been caught up in moments like that before?"

"Sure, but I wasn't in a relationship at the time."

"Did she keep kissing him? Did they have sex?" Duke crossed his arms, keeping the beer in one hand.

Wildwing seemed slightly disturbed by the thought but shook his head in the negative. "No, she said that when she realized what was going on she kneed him in the balls."

"Ha! That sounds like Mal Mal." Duke drank from his beer.

Looking down at the condensation gathering around his fingers on the glass bottle, Wildwing rubbed his thumb over the label. "I don't know what I should do in this situation."

"Whatever you feel is right I suppose. There's no right or wrong answer here Wing."

"Well that doesn't help me." Wildwing leaned back in his chair, grouchily staring at his hands and the half empty beer bottle.

Duke could only shrug. "I remember how my girl dealt with it at the time." The white feathered drake raised an eyebrow, wanting to know. "She beat the crap out of the other girl then made me buy her nice things, or steal them." Duke laughed.

"She didn't dump you?"

"Nope. She loved me just as much as I loved her, that crazy little thief." He smirked thinking about the good times they had together.

"She was a part of the Brotherhood of the Blade?" Wildwing grew more curious about Duke's past.

"Oh yeah, I loved that duck like crazy. Never have loved another woman more."

"What happened to her?"

Duke's one good eye lost focus. "She died in my arms… during the invasion."

Wildwing's eyes softened. He couldn't imagine what that was like. "I'm sorry Duke."

Duke nodded, downing the rest of his beer. Wildwing did the same, thinking about Duke's loss. Glancing at his com he read the time. "I better go. I have next watch, Nosedive's probably wondering where I am." Wildwing put the empty beer bottle in the recycling. "Thanks Duke."

"Anytime." Duke watched his leader go, from over his shoulder. Once he was out of sight his eye lost focus again. His fingers picking at the wet paper label on his beer bottle as he thought about the lost love of his life.

…..

She couldn't move her head, her neck was held in place by something. Her eyes cracked open to slowly taking in the light above her. The infirmary lights hurt her eyes. Bring her hand up slowly Tanya went to touch her throat, wondering way she couldn't move her head when her fingers hit the neck brace. A hand took hers and placed it back on the bed beside her. "Don't. You're still healing." Grin spoke up. Opening her mouth to speak, she cringed when she tried to use her vocal cords. "Don't speak." Grin leaned over her so she could see his face, his brows creased in concern. "Your trachea was swollen shut. We had to put a tub down your throat to keep your air passage open." He brought his hand up and gently touched her cheek. Tanya closed her eyes, the touch was sweet and calming. "I- We were afraid that we might lose you."

Unable to speak she opened her eyes and smiled weakly at him. The large duck smiled back, his fingers stopped caressing her face much to her displeasure but she calmed when he instead took her hand in his.

The door to the infirmary slid open, Wildwing walked in only a little surprised that Grin was there and not Dive. Seeing the grey duck standing over Tanya, Wildwing figured she was awake. "Grin? Is Tanya okay?"

Grin turned and smiled at his leader. "She is awake but cannot speak."

Coming to the other side of the bed, Wildwing smiled down at Tanya happy to see she was okay. "Glad to see you're back Tanya. You gave us a scare there." Tanya only smiled. "Look we're gonna need to keep you here for a little longer. Just to make sure you heal properly. We don't want to risk anything happening." She smiled again in respond, but pointed to her neck brace. "You want that off?" Wildwing questioned. She made a small attempt to nod. She could tell by the way her neck felt that the neck brace was no longer needed. "Alright." Wildwing opened the velcro flaps, with Grin's help, they gently removed it from Tanya's neck. "Better?" She nodded with ease. "Good. Get some sleep. I'll be right over here if you need me."

Grin stopped him before he could take a seat. "Actually Wildwing. Would you mind if I took this watch? My mind is restless and being here with her will help calm it."

Again, only a little surprised, Wildwing nodded. "Sure. Just let me know if anything happens. I'm gonna take a nap since it looks like I've got graveyard shift." Grin showed his gratitude with a nod and sat next to Tanya, who was already dozing off.

His sneakers squeaked across the floor signaling his exit but just as he reached the door someone else spoke. "Where am I?" Turning quickly Wildwing's eyes widened to see Canard was awake.

…..


	11. Chapter 11

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

The ducks gathered around their old teammate strapped to the table. Wildwing had called everyone as soon as Canard was awake. Mallory stood closer to Tanya and further from Canard. The previous team captain just stared up at the ceiling, refusing to look upon the ducks around him.

Seeing that he was ignoring everyone, Wildwing spoke up. "What do you remember Canard?" He crossed his arms as he watched the tan duck. Not trusting him for the time being.

Canard didn't answer, instead he glared at Wildwing from the side of this eyes.

Sighing Wildwing tried again. "Canard, what do you remember?"

"I remember enough. I remember you dropping me in limbo to die." The tan duck bared his teeth at who he used to believe _was_ his best friend.

Wildwing's head snapped forward, not sure he had heard Canard right, hurt displayed only for a second on his face. "What?"

"Wow. Wait a minute Canard." Duke spoke up garnering their previous team captain's attention. "Wha do you mean dropped you in limbo? We didn't drop you anywhere. We thought you were eaten by the electro-magnetic worm Dragaunus dropped on us! Wildwing tried to save you and pull you back into the ship."

He scoffed. "I remember it very differently."

"Canard I don't know what Dragaunus did to you but we're gonna help you buddy." Wildwing stepped a little closer.

"I'm not your buddy." Ignoring the comment Wildwing hit a button above the medicom Canard was tied to. "This is gonna help you sleep."

"I don't need to sle-" Before he could even finish his sentence he was out.

"Wow man! What happened to him?" Nosedive looked at his brother seeing the hurt and worry on his face.

"I don't know but whatever it is, we're going to help him." Wildwing looked back at Mallory over his shoulder. "All of us." She crossed her arms and looked away. "Right Mallory." He demanded a confirmation from her.

She sighed. "Yeah, whatever."

He took that to be as good of an answer as he was gonna get from her right now. "Alright. The watch schedule hasn't changed. I'll be taking graveyard tonight." He ran a hand through his hair.

"I can take a shift." Mallory spoke up from behind him with a slight attitude in her voice that was grating on Wildwing's nerves. "It's not like I can't control myself. I won't shoot him while he's laying there." Duke and Wildwing exchanged glances which only seemed to piss Mallory off but she curled her fists and kept her thoughts to herself.

"Fine. One screw up and you're out." She scoffed but didn't reply. "You can take the shift after mine at o-four hundred." Wildwing turned his back to her, dismissing her. Tensions in the room were running high, the other ducks shift uncomfortably. "Everyone else, go rest." He left the room with Duke and Nosedive following.

Mallory stayed behind, wanting to check with Grin about something. "Grin, do you need anything before you start your shift?"

"No, I am fine. Thank you, Mallory." He turned back to Tanya. Mallory could only nod as she left to rest before she had to take watch.

…..

Checking Tanya's vitals for what had to be the tenth time, the redhead sighed. Going over she checked Canard's as well, not that she was worried about him but he would need another dose of tranquilizers soon. She studied him for a moment, really studied him. The look on his face was almost peaceful, his eyelashes were long for a guy but it didn't make him look feminine at all just brought attention to his face.

Checking that his restraints were still in place, she nodded to herself and looked back up at his face. His eyes were staring at her, a glint of irritation shined over his brown irises. His brows scrunched in a displeased manner. She froze for a moment, not letting the fact that she had been startled show on her face or in her posture. They locked eyes, staring off, both refusing to blink.

Canard was angry. He had let his guard down for a little action and now she had captured him. He was in their base, that much was obvious but where in the base? If he was going to escape, then he needed to know where he was. "Where am I?"

"The infirmary." Mallory contemplated calling the others but decided to let them sleep. She could handle Canard. Perhaps she could even get some information out of him, get him to talk. He had been unwilling and uncooperative with Wildwing. "What do you remember?"

"Kissing you, being on top of you, then you threw me into a wall or something." He smirked, seeing blush.

"I-I meant before all this. Why are you working for Dragaunus?" She stuttered, a little embarrassed by his statement.

Canard hearing her nervous stutter at mentioning being intimate, he pounced seeing the moment of weakness. "What's wrong? Didn't like it or did you like it too much? You responded well enough when I had my hand up your shirt."

"Would you shut up about that? Just stop avoiding and answer the question." The redhead crossed her arms, stepping further back from him, not wanting to be too close.

When he only glared at her, Mallory sighed and went to sit down next to Tanya. Looking at the blond on the table helped remind her of what Canard was capable of. "What happened to her?" His curiosity getting the better of him.

"Did you conveniently forget that too?" The remark was snide but she answered after a second. "You happened."

"Is that why my forehead hurts?"

"That's exactly why your forehead hurts. You honestly don't remember that I kneed you in the face to stop you from strangling her."

"No, I honestly don't." He didn't know why he was talking to her, she was technically the enemy. A hot enemy but the enemy. Still nothing had changed. She was still going down with the rest of them. _"I should have shot her when I had that chance. That's twice now that I froze."_

"I only thing you seem to remember is not remembering anything."

He glared over at her as she watched Tanya. _"Hot but a bitch."_ He briefly wondered about her earlier reaction to mentioning what happened on the rooftop. She undeniably blushed. Was this what threw her off her game? Flirting? "Were you just playing with me on the roof? Using your charms to throw me off guard or did you enjoy that as much as I did?"

"Please." She scoffed, blushing again and turning away from him. "Like I would us my charms on you. Besides you were all over me not the other way around."

"So… you did enjoy it." He laughed.

"I enjoy hitting you more." Mallory barked, her back stiffening in defense and her fists clenched at her sides.

"Of that I have no doubt." The two bumps on the top and front of his head proved that.

"I'm sick of hearing you talk." She stood up walking closer, intending to drug him to sleep.

"And I'm sick of you winning!" He hissed at her making her take a step back with the venom in his voice. "I promise that the next time we fight I'll be the one on top." Mallory stared unsure if he was using a turn of phrase. Seeing her face, he realized he probably should have worded it differently. "…That came out wrong."

"Whatever." She marched the rest of the way over. He was expecting her to hit him again but instead she reached above him.

Her finger was almost on the button when Wildwing walked in. Seeing the situation at hand, he narrowed his eyes. "Constantly drugging him isn't going to fix anything."

Mallory's hand moved away from the button and she growled to herself. "It won't hurt him."

"It might." Canard muttered.

"Shut up." Mallory hissed back at him. She looked at her leader and crossed her arms not sure what to do with her hands. "What's up? I thought you were sleeping?"

"Yeah well, I can't currently." He walked further into the room and checked Tanya's vitals.

"What? Don't trust me not to kill him?" Mallory asked. Canard lifted an eyebrow at her comment, did her leader think she wanted to kill him. It was obvious to him that she wouldn't, she wasn't a killer no matter how much she wanted to hide that. Seeing Wildwing enter the room again, he went quiet, refusing to say a word around the tall drake. His betrayer.

" _Wildwing seems to think that I somehow have forgotten how he dropped me in limbo."_ The memories played out vividly in his mind.

… _He was holding onto Wildwing's hand for dear life, trying to escape the electromagnetic worm that somehow grabbed his legs. Grin's arm was wrapped around Wildwing's waist as he tried to pull them both back in._

" _Wildwing, I can't hold you both, you have to let him go." Grin called out._

 _Wildwing looked Canard in the eyes. "Please don't drop me Wildwing!" He pleaded. Wildwing's brows scrunched and he used one hand to reach for his face. He didn't know what Wildwing was doing but assumed he was trying to help him in some way. What a fool he had been._

" _I'm sorry Canard but I need the mask." He ripped the mask off his face and released him. Canard watched as the plane grew smaller as he was pulled away…_

That was it. That was all Canard remembered. The next thing he knew, he woke up in Dragaunus's ship with the big red lizard standing over him and telling him how he saved him. Something he had been unwilling to believe in the beginning but proved to be true.

He looked over at the two very quiet ducks awkwardly going about their own business. _"I'll get even with him, with all of them. If it's the last thing I do."_ He glanced at Mallory, she didn't seem to like Wildwing and Wildwing didn't seem to trust her. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage.

…..


	12. Chapter 12

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

AN: I realize there are mistakes in this. Like, if the medicoms can heal than why the hell did Mallory choose to heal herself the hard way in the very first chapter and the answer is that I started writing this two years ago, stuff was missed. We're gonna skip over that incident until I can figure out a good solution. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. There are probably going to be some mess ups like that but I'll try to make sense of it as I go. This is what happens when you leave a story sitting for too long.

…..

The next day Canard remained silent, refusing to speak or even look at anyone as the team took turns on their shifts. Duke had just finished his and was waiting for Grin to take over for him as he sat in the chair beside the bed with his hands resting behind his head like a pillow. Whistling a tune and hoping to get reaction out of Canard but nothing seemed to work. The duck either had tuned him out or was very good at hiding his irritation. The door slid open and Duke watched as Tanya walked in with Grin following close behind. "Tanya? Sweetheart, what are ya doing walkin' around? You should be resting." He stood up, looking at the blond in concern.

"I'm fine. As long as it's nothing too strenuous." She stood in front of the medicom controls, activating the machine Canard laid on.

"What are ya doing?" Duke stood on her other side that Grin wasn't hovering over. "You taking over Grin's watch? I don't know if that's a good idea." He glanced at Grin, wondering why he had been so attached to Tanya's side as of late.

"No, I'm gonna be working while Grin is on watch. Per Wildwing's orders, anytime I'm in the room with Canard, I need to have someone with me."

Duke nodding, knowing that Mallory had been adamant about Tanya not being alone near Canard. Wildwing had most likely agreed to get her off his back. Things between the two had been rough. Duke didn't know what exactly caused the change but he knew it had to do with Canard. "Alright. Well, call me if you need anything sweetheart." He winked at Tanya, who blushed a little and left, not seeing the annoyed look Grin gave him as the door closed behind him.

Canard slightly observed the interaction between them, trying to find whatever he could to use against them.

As he laid on the bed, strapped down he was starting to notice that he was beginning to feel funny for the past couple of hours, like a buzz was wearing off or something. Shaking his head, he tried to think of his past and his plans but his mind was getting confused easily, his thoughts were jumbled as he latched onto the memory of Wildwing dropping him out of the Areowing into dimensional limbo. Holding onto the memory was the only thing that was keeping his priorities straight.

The door opened again, Canard glanced out of the side of his eyes to see who it was. Seeing Mallory walk in, a small smirk titled his mouth as he fully turned his head for the first time to look at her. Grin raised an eyebrow at this but kept it to himself. "Hey Tanya. I came to check on you." She looked over at Canard, her eyes narrowed into a glared at the smirk he sent her way but looked away quickly. Tanya didn't seem to notice.

"Ya, I got Grin with me." She typed orders into the medicom controls and it came to life, scanning and assessing the drake that was tied down. "P-per Wildwing's orders, when I'm near Canard I need to always have someone with me." Canard mentally cursed to himself, this only made capturing Tanya more difficult.

"Good." Mallory glanced over at him to see him just staring up at the ceiling. Her forehead scrunched in thought. It was odd. Only the last time she had a run in with Canard was he going after her. The last couple of times, it seemed like he had a different target in mind. She looked at Tanya who was back to working over the medicom controls. _"The first time I ran into Canard he was trying to kill Klegghorn. The second time, he kidnapped me to get the others to follow into a trap. The third it seemed like he was going after Tanya. Then he attacked me at the ball but didn't kill me when he had the chance and he attacked me in the rain. I can't tell if these attempts are planned or random."_ She thought. _"Who will he go after next? He almost killed Tanya. I have to assume it's just random for right now."_

"He's got a co-couple of wounds that need to be better healed." Tanya spoke, snapping Mallory out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"He has wounds that need to heal." She pointed at the screen. "Look."

Mallory and Grin walked over to see what she was talking about. Mallory instantly recognized some of the wounds. The bullet hole in his leg was curtesy of her, drawing a little smirk across her beak and the head wound was taken care of but there was one across his stomach that she didn't recognize. I wasn't a wound as much as it was a very large scar. She briefly wondered in her mind what would have caused that, it almost looked like a burn. "I think he'll be fine." Mallory didn't want to heal him.

Tanya gave her a disapproving look.

"Though he has hurt us, he was once a teammate." Grin spoke up.

Mallory only shrugged. "Do what you want. Just be careful." She left, seeing that she wasn't needed.

Tanya watched Mallory leave curiously but kept her thoughts to herself. Looking back at the screen she saw something on his brain scan that made her do a double take. "Wow." She whispered.

"What is it?" Grin placed his hand on her shoulder and leaned over her to see what she was looking at.

Tanya jumped a little but pointed at the screen. "Look at his brain waves and the electrical path that they are taking." She pointed at the image of a colorfully lit brain on the screen.

"So?"

"So! So, this is not how a normal brain looks! This is how a brain looks when it's been tampered with." Even Canard started paying attention. "This is proof that Dragaunus did something to alter Canard's mind. Most likely Wraith's dark ah, ya know, magic!"

"So?" He still didn't get it.

"That means that there is a good chance we can get Canard back to normal. Look." She pointed again to another part of the screen with a smaller image of the brain. "The medicom is showing that within a day or two, whatever was done to him will leave his system."

"So Wraith has been changing his memories for him with magic to make him hate us? Why not just put him under mind control and have him kill us that way?"

"Probably because it doesn't work on the strong minded." She was typing at a furious pace.

"It worked on Phil." Grin rubbed his beak in thought.

Tanya scoffed. "Yeah exactly."

"That is good news. Wildwing will be pleased."

Tanya looked over at Grin very seriously. "Yeah well, he will go back to normal but its not going to be pleasant. He's going to g-go through, ya know, withdrawals."

"Like an addict?"

Tanya nodded. "Ya, like an addict only he won't be craving the magic to be used on him again, he'll be confused."

Grin looked down in thought, realizing how ugly this could get. "This will not please Wildwing."

"Nope."

…..

For two days, everyone would take turns monitoring Canard's progress as he slowly fell into the withdrawals. Wildwing would check on his best friend and Canard would refuse to speak to him even though he was getting more confused by the hour. Now he had two different memories of what happened on the Areowing back when they were chasing Dragaunus through dimensional limbo. He growled shaking his head, trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't.

Nosedive watched from the side, unsure of what to do. Canard was sweating, shaking, and muttering to himself. Tanya said it was a spell that wraith placed on him and that it would pass but it would take time.

Technically the side effects of the magic should have passed by now but he was still going through it. Approaching carefully, not getting too close, Nosedive spoke to him. "Canard man, I don't know if you can hear me but you're gonna be okay. You're safe now and we're here for you man. Bro's really worried and so is everyone else." He didn't mention Mallory or Grin's indifference to him. Though seeing the state Canard was in made Mallory pause in her thoughts on his situation. "You're gonna get through this. We're gonna help you, cause we're a team and that's what team's do." The tan drake didn't seem to hear him as he was sweating and shaking on the bed. Nosedive sighed, wishing there was more he could do for his friend but resigned himself to just standing guard over the suffering drake.

…..

Canard sat in the middle of the room, his old teammates surrounding him as he looked at each confused.

"Do you remember anything yet Canard?" Wildwing placed his hand on Canard's shoulder.

"No. I don't think so." Canard rubbed his head as if he had a headache. He looked at Wildwing and apologized for what had to be the tenth time. "I'm sorry Wildwing. I don't know how I could think these things but I did. I actually thought you dropped me into limbo for the mask."

"Canard you don't need to keep apologizing. I know this wasn't your fault. It's Dragaunus' fault."

He only nodded. Looking over at the dark mask he had been wearing. "I think he made it to mock you." Canard said, not taking his eyes off it. Wildwing looked over at the dark mask and narrowed his eyes. "We shouldn't be surprised I guess."

"No, we shouldn't but none of that matters now. You're safe and home." The team leader looked over at Tanya. "Is he cleared?"

"Yeah everything should be out of his system but we may want to keep him here for more analysis."

Wildwing looked like he wanted to argue that Canard had been through enough but before he could speak Canard agreed. "She's right. For precaution, I should be tied down as well. The last thing I want to do is hurt one of you guys." He glanced at Tanya briefly, seeing the bruising around her neck.

Mallory was off to the side watching him carefully. She didn't trust that he was back to normal or that he even could go back to normal but kept it to herself. Not once did Canard make eye contact with her. "Mallory." The tan drake saying her name made her tense. He looked up at her for the first time, serious but apologetic. "I tried to kill you a number of times. I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened slightly but she cleared her throat and tried to look unaffected. "Yeah. Thanks."

"I know things are probably going to be awkward between us because of everything but I want to try to be your friend."

"Yeah whatever. We'll see how honest you're being as time goes by." She kept her arms crossed.

"Mal come on! Take it easy on him." Nosedive came to Canard's defense.

"She has every right to be angry at me Dive. I tried to hurt her the most out of anyone here. I can't remember everything exactly but I remember that I hurt her pretty bad. I wouldn't trust me either but I'm still a little confused. For some reason, the past couple of months are just blank." He looked at Wildwing but Tanya was the one that spoke.

"Th-that would be because of the spell. It'll wear off eventually, I just don't know how long it will take for those memories to come back." She shrugged.

"In the meantime, we'll set up a room for you and get you sorted." Wildwing spoke authoritatively but smiled none the less. "It's good to have you back buddy."

Canard smiled back at his best friend. "Good to be back."

…..

A week of Canard being back and not once did he step out of line with anyone. Everyone watched him carefully and none more carefully than Mallory and Wildwing. Mallory because she still didn't know whether to trust him and Wildwing because he worried for him.

Canard played practice games with them all the time but when it came to a real game, they decided they should keep him away from the public eye for the time being. Phil was of course eager to get the drake out in the media but Wildwing had put a stop to it before Phil could even begin to spout his nonsense. Keeping Canard away from the public light was for his own protection. He didn't mind. He was still adjusting to the way things were on Earth anyway and when it came to missions, Canard for the most part came along.

He seemed to be getting along with everyone on the team, all except for Mallory. The two didn't talk. They weren't hostile towards each other, it was just quiet and awkward. There was a tension there that everyone figured was caused by Mallory's lack of trust. Truth was the tension was coming from both sides.

Canard was slowly remembering more and more about the past couple of months. He remembered the fights and everything that happened between him and Mallory, even the kiss on the roof. Canard's tension was coming from the fact he was attracted to her.

He wanted to talk it out but she avoided him at every turn. He realized that he needed to corner her. Probably not the best idea but its what needed to happen. He was tired of this game of cat and mouse she seemed to be unwittingly playing with him. The constant hiding and running away from him was getting old fast. Especially when he had so many questions.

…..

She was in the gym working out to help keep her mellow. After another fight with Wildwing she needed to work through her anger. Mallory finished her reps and placed the weights down when she heard the door open behind her. She looked back, wanting to see who had come to talk to her. Canard was standing there, looking stoic but almost acting as if he was waiting for some sort of permission to enter the room. Mallory watched him suspiciously but nodded to him, giving him the ok to approach.

Canard understood her suspicion. "I'm only here to talk." He brought his hands up to show he meant no harm.

"…Okay?"

Her stance remained on the defensive and he found himself a little annoyed but pushed it to the side. "I'm sorry about the things I did but I was under their control."

"Yeah I get it." Mallory grabbed her water bottle and stood up facing him.

"I know but I still need to apologize. I hurt you pretty bad." He really did feel horrible about it. He wanted to smooth things out with Mallory. It was causing tension, not only between him and her, but everyone. The whole team noticed it. He had caused enough trouble and wanted to make sure everything else was as smooth as possible. Also, he enjoyed what happened between Mallory and himself on the roof… a lot. Speaking of that…

"Listen, what happened on the roof?" Mallory froze and listened. The rigidness in her posture made him decide to take a different route. He was tired of trying to be delicate and her brushing him off. Time to throw her off her game. "Did you like it?"

She didn't know what to say. Of all the things he wanted to talk about, she was hoping he would avoid this one. "I…"

"I mean you did kiss be back so you must have felt something." A smirk grew, seeing her blush. _"She looks cute with a blush."_

"Listen, I think that was the heat of the moment kind of a deal. Let's just leave it at that."

"You really think that?" He watched her doubtfully. "How can you be sure?"

"I just am." Trying to keep her patience in check, she took another swig of her water.

"Alright. I'll buy it but I want you to prove it."

"Huh?" Her brows crunched in confusion, not sure how she would do that.

"Kiss me." Canard stepped closer to her, bringing his mouth closer to hers.

"No." Mallory went to walk around him but he stepped in front of her again. "Canard." She said his name in warning.

"I'm serious."

"So am I. Move."

"Make me." He smirked boyishly at her. Mallory found herself blushing again, much to her exasperation.

"I don't have time for this." She went around him but this time he let her. Turning quickly, he grabbed her hand and spun her back around. Mallory growled but stopped the instant his mouth was on hers. The same heated flushed spread over her as he deepened the kiss and she closed her eyes, kissing him back as his hands tightened on her arms, keeping her close. Almost as quick as it happened, it was over and Canard pulled back, his breathing a little heavier with the excitement. What felt like an electric spark had shot through him at the taste of her mouth, it was addicting. Smirking down at Mallory who looked up at him in confusion. "Yeah… you liked it." The smugness radiating off him snapped her out of her daze.

Realizing he was just making a point, she snapped. "You jackass!" Shoving him back, she stomped her way out of the gym. Canard knew better than to follow but the smile on his face grew, as he watched the fiery redhead go.

…..


	13. Chapter 13

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

Nosedive whistled as tune as he flipped through the channels next to Mallory in the rec room. "Are you going to just pick something already?" She asked annoyed he was taking so long to find something to watch.

"I'll know when I find it." He spoke unconcerned. She huffed, leaning her head on her hand, causing Nosedive glanced at her, wondering why she was more irritable than usual. "What's up Mal? You're tense."

"I'm just… I don't feel secure right now."

"What cause of Canard?"

"Yes, and I've made my concerns known." Mallory growled, crossing her arms, thinking about how her last conversation with Wildwing went. He didn't seem to take much stock in what she said when it came to Canard.

"And?" Nosedive asked, wanting to know what his brother did.

"And he said he would take it under advisement."

"That's it?"

"Yep. When it comes to Canard, he doesn't want to believe the worst."

"Yeah bros kind of like that. He would do that same if it came to any of us though." The young drake flipped another channel. "Besides, you do have some bad blood between you two. At least Canard is trying to make amends. You aren't trying to fix anything."

She sighed, knowing the kid had a point. "I know Nosedive. I just am having a hard time trusting him after everything that's happened."

"Go out with him." The blond offered.

"What?" She almost blushed but realized Dive was talking about going out publicly and hanging out as opposed to something more intimate.

"Why not. We're supposed to be a team. If we're gonna work together, you're gonna have to start trusting him at some point Mal." He finally found a channel, with cartoons. "Finally, cartoons!" He was completely unaware of Mallory being lost in thought next to him.

" _Maybe Nosedive has a point."_ She thought to herself as she uncrossed her arms, thinking about the effort made on Canard's side but none on hers. _"I just don't trust that he is in the clear and then there's Wildwing…."_ She sighed, running a hand through her thick hair. For the first time in a long time, Mallory didn't know what to do.

…..

Duke walked down the hall whistling a tune. At first glance it would seem the drake was in a completely relaxed state; however, he was anything but. Grin's actions concerning Tanya were starting to bother him. Usually he caught on quickly to developing relationships but for some reason he missed this. Even before Mallory and Wildwing were dating he knew there was something between them. So how did he miss this thing between Tanya and Grin?

He didn't think Tanya was responding to Grin's strange courtship but the other day, standing in the room with them while monitoring Canard, he couldn't help but worry she might reciprocate those feelings. It wasn't anything she said or did, it was the why she acted, the slight change in her movements around Grin. It was frustrating. Duke had been making his interest very clear but she brushed him off as not being serious. Maybe she thought he was just being a player.

Somehow, he had to prove to her that he wasn't trying to play her. He really did like her. Duke just wasn't sure how he was going to do that. He sighed to himself as he walked down the hall. Headed towards the elevator that would take him to the locker room to get ready for practice.

…..

Practice was a daily event, one that helped the ducks relax and forget their worries for a short period of time. When they played hockey, everyone forget that they were stuck on a strange world by themselves. They didn't think about the fact that they may never go home, that one of them might die the next day fighting Dragaunus or the many enemies they had accumulated while on Earth.

When looking at all the odds against them, it could be real depressing but playing hockey kept their heads clear and minds focused. It was one of the reasons Wildwing was so ridge when it came to practice. No one missed unless they were sick, dying, or very badly injured and now that Canard was here, he had to abide by the same rules.

The first round of practice was done, everyone played around on the ice while Canard skated to the side and grab a drink of water. Picking up his water bottle, he leaned his head back and let the cool water slide down his throat. Grin decided to do the same thing and skated to grab his water but on the way there, he notice that Canard was watching Mallory again.

He looked over at Tanya, Duke was flirting with her as they passed the puck back and forth. His eyes followed her movements when he spied the bruises around her throat still healing from Canard attempt on her life. He had to stop himself from growling at the sight of the bruises. Turning back to Canard, Grin saw the drake was now looking around the stadium, seeming nonchalant but with quick glances he would look at Mallory.

Grin had been observing Canard over the past week, he noticed that without fail, Canard's eyes always made their way to Mallory whenever she was in the room. "Our eyes move over the things we want." Canard stiffened, not realizing the large drake came up next to him. "And yours move over her often." He didn't like that Canard had attack Tanya, even if it hadn't been his fault. He didn't trust the drake now. "What I came here to impress upon you was that if you hurt another one of my teammates, then even Wildwing won't be able to protect you."

Canard nodded at the drake, seeing that he was very serious. "I understand."

…..

Wildwing rolled his right shoulder, a large knot had formed and was giving him hell for the last few days. Usually Mallory, helped him work out knots with a massage but their recent split left him without that help.

Tanya glanced at him from the side of her eye curiously. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Let's just get through this list. I'm tired."

It was time to finish up the weekly review of weapons checks, ammo checks, safety checks for all vehicles, and general maintenance of the Pond. They were at the end of the list. The final and most irritating check was left. He ground his teeth already knowing the answer to the question he was going to ask. "Tanya, any signs of Dragaununs in the past month?"

"None."

"He hasn't shown up once on our scanner." This was beginning to worry him. "Lizard lips is never quiet for this long." Wildwing sighed in frustration. A small warning bell going off in his mind that he was all too aware of. Dragaunus was no doubt planning something and it must have been big to keep him in hiding for this long.

"We-well, he has had ya know, Canard do a lot of his dirty work." Tanya tapped the pen against the clipboard she was carrying.

"Still, its unlike him." Wildwing stopped in front of Drake One, glaring up at the larger than life monitor. "I'm getting tired of waiting for him to make a move."

Tanya hesitated before asking her question, worried she might offend her leader. "Do you think i-it has something to do with Canard being here?"

He turned his head away from the monitor to her, the red eyes of the mask not giving a clear indication of where he was looking. "How so?"

"What if Dragaunus is using him to lure us into a trap. Maybe a false sense of se-security."

"You've been talking to Mallory." He muttered.

"Well she has a point." She shot back, raising an eyebrow.

He was surprised by the retort but crossed his arms. "It is something I have considered but I know my best friend. What we dealt with before, I barely recognized that drake but here, now, that _is_ my best friend. I grew up with that guy, I'd recognize him anywhere."

Tanya only nodded. "I-I get that but if it comes down to it, can you make _the_ hard decision?"

Wildwing didn't answer.

…..

She would practice taking apart the weapons and putting them back together, always timing herself and trying to improve on her speed. The faster one could fix their weapons on the battlefield, the more likely they would survive. She had just finished her weapons and ammunition check, everything was in order. The sound of the door opening alerted her that she had a visitor. Turning to see who it was, she almost sighed.

Turning away from him, she didn't show him the frustration on her face. The past couple of days out of everyone, he had been trying the hardest to make amends with her. It made it a little difficult when three days ago he had grabbed her and kissed her in the gym to make a point.

"You know I pretty much remember everything that happened from before I fell into dimensional limbo."

She paused cleaning her weapon to look over at him. "What happened to you after you let go?" Her curiosity couldn't be helped, he was taken by an electromagnetic worm so there should have been no way he survived.

"You mean how did I not get eaten?" He raised an eyebrow. She only nodded. "Simple. I did get eaten."

"What?" She didn't understand.

"It swallowed me. I cut my way out and fell. Woke up on Dragaunus' ship. From there, it's fuzzy. I know Wraith did something to me, made me forget, changed my memories." He sighed and shook his head. "I think they tried to put me under mind control for a while but it didn't work. They had to convince me to work with them by making me think you guys were the enemy."

She turned away. Her brows scrunched at the thought of Dragaunus' scumbag ways. "Does Wildwing know?"

"Yeah, only the two of you know now." The tan drake watched her work on her weapons.

"Why tell me?"

Canard didn't answer, only walked the rest of the way into the room. "Need any help?"

"No just cleaning and practicing with them."

"Practicing?" He looked around confused, not seeing a shooting range.

"I time myself for taking weapons apart and putting them back together."

"Ah. I used to do the same thing back in the base. A group of us would make a game out of it. We raced each other to see who was the fastest."

"A couple of us used to do that at our base too." She finished cleaning her weapon.

He raised an eyebrow. "Were you the fastest?"

"Sometimes." She shrugged. "Usually one of the top three, depended on the day."

He smirked, picking up an unloaded gun and loaded it. Mallory tensed on instinct. Taking notice, he put her at ease by placing the weapon back down. "Mallory, you can trust me. I'm back to normal now."

She nodded and went back to inspecting her gun. "It's going to take some getting used to." She muttered, a little embarrassed with her reaction. After everything that's happened with him, she still didn't feel comfortable. Part of it was guilt for what happened between them on the rooftop. She told Wildwing everything that happened and felt like the worst person in the world from the hurt look in his eyes. She didn't blame him for being angry. Shit, if she had been in his position she would have been angry as hell. It wasn't everyday you heard that your best friend fondled your girlfriend on a rooftop.

"Want to play?" He asked.

Mallory blushed, thinking about where her mind had been when he said that. "What?"

"Want to play? We'll see who's the fastest at putting together a weapon and firing." He leaned back, crossing his toned arms over his chest. "Come on, it'll be fun. Consider it a healing experience." He suddenly looked cocky and smug. "Unless you're afraid you'll lose and your reputation as the team badass will be ruined."

She scoffed and laughed at his friendly attempt to get on better terms with her. Though she did miss those kinds of games, she didn't feel quiet right about being on those kinds of terms with Canard just yet. She was still walking on eggshells around Wildwing and he may not respond well to her getting close with him. Canard probably had ulterior motives, as in relating to that kiss he gave her in the gym.

"Do you remember all the things you did while working for Dragaunus?"

If Canard was surprised, he didn't show it, instead his face went neutral, making him impossible to read. "Yes."

"Why didn't you kill me at the party? When you knocked me out?"

"Because I didn't want to. I realized I should have, you have this nasty habit of getting in the way but when I went to kill you… I couldn't. There was a part of me that was still awake that wouldn't let me hurt one of my teammates."

"You threw me off a roof."

"That was a grenade and to be fair, it wasn't like I could predict where it was going to throw you. I just needed you out of the way."

"Who were you really going after at that party?" Mallory narrowed her eyes.

Canard looked tired. "I already talked to Wildwing about all of this. I don't want to talk about it anymore. If you want to know so bad, talk to him about it. I'm sorry it's just… bad memories." He stood up, walking towards the door. He stopped before exiting and looked over his shoulder at her.

"Let me know if you ever want your butt kicked at a game of weapon assembly." He smiled at her. She did not return it, only nodded while watching him leave.

…..


	14. Chapter 14

I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

A laser shot by his head, coming a little too close for comfort. The tan duck growled, feeling the heat from the weapons pass by. The saurian's were up ahead and so far, the ducks hadn't gained much ground.

He looked over a little jealously at Wildwing, seeing him and Mallory working in sync with each other. One always covered the other so that they could slowly progress forward, going from cover to cover, remaining close. They worked so well together it kind of irritated him. It was almost like they knew what the other would do before they did it.

He wanted to try to develop a bond with Mallory, but she continued to distrust and keep him at arm's length. Another laser went by his head, snapping him out of his thoughts as Nosedive moved up to his position. "We need to check these creeps into the boards." He brought up his gun.

Canard nodded, agreeing with the young drake. They needed to end this fight. "Alright. Here's what we'll do. See that pole." He pointed to a large metal pole meant to stabilize the building, nothing the saurian's had was going to be able to shoot through that.

"Yeah I see it. You want me to cover you, so you can get to it?"

"Yeah. Once I'm there I'll cover you and you can join me. Then we'll continue to move up on their position like Mallory and Wildwing are doing."

"Age before beauty." Nosedive smirked.

Canard ignored the comment in favor of remaining focused on the mission. "On the count of three." They got into position. "One, two, three!" Nosedive jumped up firing rapidly at the saurian's, forcing them to take cover. Canard ran to the position, shooting as he ran. Once behind the pole, he got into position he covered Nosedive, forcing Siege and Wraith to remain hidden. Nosedive seeing his chance dashed to join Canard. Once both were under cover, Canard gave his gun a break and ducked, the barrel smoked from the friction of the bullets passing through it. The saurian's jumped back up shooting at both sides, trying to keep the ducks at bay. Canard searched from Mallory and Wildwing at their last position, but they were no where in sight and now he and Nosedive were taking heavy fire. "What are they doing?" He growled.

A moment before, Wildwing peaked from behind the metal crate where he and Mallory were hiding. Ducking down quickly to avoid a laser to the head from the Chameleon, he almost head-butted Mallory in the process. His beak lightly brushing hers causing them both to freeze for a moment. They were squished together behind a single crate, trying to move to the next spot. "Sorry." He muttered, a little embarrassed but didn't let it take his focus off the fight.

"We need to keep moving up." Mallory acted as if nothing happened.

Wildwing would have rolled his eyes at the obvious statement if it hadn't been for the sound of metal smashing down on the ground. He checked his teammates to see Grin tossing very large crates at the Chameleon. The lizard yelped, rolling out of the way and avoiding being crushed.

Seeing the opening Mallory, went for it. "I'm going!" She stood to run out from behind the crate but Wildwing grabbed her wrist, pulling her back down. Stopping her from going to the next point. "What?" She asked confused.

"Are you crazy? Did you even bother to look?" He argued, pointing at Wraith, who would have had a clean shot at her, if she had gone.

"Damnit." She muttered, realizing that she had almost made a huge mistake. "I did look. He wasn't there when I checked."

"Well he's there now." He said disapprovingly, ruffling Mallory's feathers. She growled yanking her wrist free from his hand, he only gave her an agitated side glance. "I'll use my shield. Just get behind me and follow me."

"Fine."

"Get ready." He pulled up his shield. "Go!" Standing up he protected them both from the lasers now coming at them, keeping it up until they reached cover. Opening his com he gave commands to the rest of the team. "We've got them cornered. Hit them hard team." Everyone was firing on the saurian's not giving them a chance to fire back.

"Boss! We need a little help!" Chameleon whimpered, over his com to Dragaunus. They didn't see the hunter drones teleport in behind Mallory and Wildwing. The leader noticed the flash of green light first, turning just in time to see the drones taking aim at them. Grabbing Mallory around the waist, Wildwing pulled her close. Moving his shield in front of them just in time to protect them from the laser fire. The lasers pushed at his shield, jerking his arm back with every hit, the impact vibrating up his arm. Opening her com, Mallory called for the others. "Guys we're in trouble!"

Nosedive and Canard were on the opposite side of them, giving them a clear view of the hunter drones but not of the two teammates. Seeing them in danger Canard jumped into action, taking on the secondary mantel as leader while Wildwing was unable to give orders. "Nosedive give me cover, keep shooting at those slim balls while I destroy the drones." The blond nodded, opening fire on their hidden enemies.

Canard dashed across the large warehouse, using crates or equipment for cover. Finally, in position, he aimed for their heads, swiftly taking each drone out and running to his best friend's side. "You guys okay?"

"We are now." Wildwing put his shield away, shaking his arm, trying to loosen the tense muscles that now ached with relief.

"Hey guys." Nosedive walked up to them. "Those slim balls split. We got nothing."

Wildwing sighed but nodded. "Everyone back to the ship."

"Wait, what did they wanted here?" Dive raised his arms in question.

"Could have been searching for spare parts." Grin commented, Tanya walked up behind him looking around.

"I don't think so. Everything here is-ah-ya know, junk."

Wildwing's arms were crossed as he nodded, agreeing with Tanya. Mallory walked away from the ducks discussing possible answers to look at the crates the lizards had been hiding behind. Canard, seeing her curiosity followed her with his eyes, not once taking them off her as she wandered, searching for something. The feeling of someone watching him drew his gaze from the stimulating redhead. Grin boldly stared at Canard, telling him without speaking that he was still watching him. He looked back at Wildwing, who was still conversing with Tanya and Duke, only to see Wildwing giving him a strange look.

Uncomfortable, Canard walked away, making it look like he was looking around for clues as to what might have been the Saurian's objective. However, the drake didn't have to search to find out what the saurian's wanted. They were after him.

Drone pieces were scattered about from the fight. He walked closer to Mallory, looking at the drones he shot on the floor, they were all missing their mechanical heads but one. It lay motionless on the floor, its lower half gone. He didn't think anything of it as he put his gun away. Out of the side of his eyes he saw the drone sit up suddenly, taking aim at the closet duck, which happened to be Mallory.

"Look out!" He shouted, alarming the others to danger. He charged head on at Mallory tackling her out of the way of the laser fire. Colliding with her heavily, he ended up knocking them both off their feet and unintentionally down some sort of metal shaft. Mallory cried out as they fell.

"Canard! Mallory!" Seeing them fall, Wildwing went to help them, but the drone was still active. It shot at Wildwing, making him jump back. Opening his shield, he blocked the drone's weak attempts to kill him and quickly disabled it.

While Wildwing was doing this, Grin and Tanya ran over to see if their two teammates were okay. Luckily, the fall wasn't far but they would need to find their friends to make sure they were okay. Tanya pressed a button on her omitool, opening the auto tracker. "L-let's go find them." She looked at Grin who nodded, following the blond.

…..

Wind whipped by them as they fell, Canard clutched Mallory close to his chest and turned them so he took the brunt of the fall. They landed on a discarded pile of sheets and towels, used for cleaning the products the factory made. Both breathed heavily from the adrenaline rush of fall two stories. "Are you alright?" Canard had yet to let her go, realizing she was practically laying in his arms on top of him, the redhead jumped up, dusting herself off.

"I'm fine." She mumbled. He only nodded, standing and dusting himself off a little as well, though not nearly as much as Mallory. She was trying too hard to dust herself off and not look at him. "We should find the others." She grumbled.

"Wait." Canard grabbed her wrist before she could walk away. "Now that we finally are alone, I need to speak with you."

The redhead was upset. "Are you saying you knocked me down that shaft on purpose?"

"What? No!" He seemed offended. "I was trying to save your life! You're welcome by the way!" After everything she still didn't trust him, this was getting very frustrating.

"Thanks for almost killing us. Now let's go."

"What do I have to do to gain your trust?" He ground his teeth.

"Nothing. There is nothing you can do."

"I just want your trust Mallory!"

"Well I don't trust you!" She growled.

"Why? I'm back to normal now!"

"I'm not sure you are."

"You are the most stubborn duck I've ever met in my life!" Canard clenched his fists in pure frustration.

"Then same could be said for you. Besides why do you care so much!" She threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Because obviously I want to be with you!" He yelled. "You'd think it'd be pretty clear with everything that happened on the rooftops that one night you captured me and then all the dropped hints."

"I thought you were just messing with my head."

"No. I was confused. I was supposed to kill you, but I couldn't. At the time, I thought it was illogical to desire an enemy that had been responsible for the miserable fate of being thrown in limbo. I didn't understand how my hate for you could turn so quickly into desire, so I tried to take you out first, so you wouldn't get in the way but every time I got close I couldn't. There was a part of me that remembered you and didn't want to hurt you."

"Canard…" She wasn't sure how to go on but needed to tell him how delicate the situation was. "I was dating Wildwing before that happened." He blinked, processing what she said. "I told him what happened between us on the roof and he broke up with me."

"… I didn't realiz-"

"Let's just focus on finding the others. We have no idea where we are." Mallory interrupted and opened her com, seeing the others signals. "Two are heading toward us, the others are heading around. Come on. We'll meet the two closest halfway."

The tan drake only sighed, defeated he didn't bother to argue. Now he felt bad because he had caused his best friend pain and didn't know all this time. Canard silently fell into step behind her as she led the way out.

Mallory glanced over her shoulder at Canard, he looked to be lost in thought. The frustration and confusion on his face was obvious. _"Whatever. He wants to be friends now after he has tried to kill me so many times and was a major cause of Wildwing breaking up with me."_ She stopped suddenly, realizing what she had just thought. _"Do I really blame Canard for my breakup? Is that really fair?"_ She did. She blamed Canard, it was one of the reasons she held a grudge against him. Truth was, she couldn't blame anyone but herself and Mallory had told herself this many times over but deep down it didn't work. "Dammit McMallard." She grumbled, looking down and feeling a little guilty for the way she had been treating him. He really had been trying to win her over, but she stubbornly refused. She sighed. "Canard… I don't know how to trust you at this point." She omitted.

The sentence was unexpected but appreciated. "Just give me a chance." He stepped forward seeing that she was finally listening.

Watching him a little nervously she nodded. "Alright, I can't promise anything, but I'll try."

"That's all I'm asking for."

"Hey guys!" Tanya yelled from down a hall, clearly on the same level as them now. "You guys okay?"

"We're fine now Tanya." Mallory answered, seeing both Tanya and Grin step out from around a corner. "Right?" She looked back at Canard who smiled.

"Right." He answered.

Tanya and Grin glanced at each other, wondering what had changed in the short amount of time between the two but didn't comment. "Everyone is worried. We split off to try and find you." Grin spoke up.

"Let's not keep them waiting then." Canard nodded, telling them to lead the way. Walking back, they were surprised to find Tanya and Grin had to go up a floor then going back down in order to reach them. One stairway had collapsed during the fighting causing them to have to take a round about way.

"You two okay?" Wildwing asked, watching as Canard and Grin both jumped down from over the crumbled stairs to their level.

"Yeah." Canard answered, not looking his best friend in the eye.

Grin jumped down being careful of his footing, not wanting to trip on a stone and hurt his ankle. Canard did the same but recovered quicker than Grin. Tanya moved to jump down next but didn't see a good spot to land. "Here I'll help." Wildwing offered, giving Tanya a hand by placing his hands on her waist and gently placing her down. She nodded her thanks and got out of the way so Mallory could get down.

Tanya stumbled a moment but Duke was quick and caught her fast, helping her keep her balance. "You alright sweetheart?"

"Uh ye-yeah." She stood on her own, a blush on her cheeks.

Duke put and arm around her shoulders. "Good, wouldn't want anything to happen to you." Grin watched the interaction. Keeping quiet about his dislike of Duke being so close with the blond.

Seeing Tanya was okay, Wildwing turned back to help Mallory only to find Canard already helping her. The tan duck placed his hands on Mallory's waist and set her on her feet carefully but in doing so he set her down very close to his body. The move was almost intimate and Wildwing felt his feathers bristle at his friend for the first time since he was here. Mallory nodded her thanks, but Canard had yet to release her waist, he stared at her a moment then finally let go and backed away.

" _I didn't imagine that. Somethings going on."_ He hadn't forgotten when Mallory told him what happened between her and Canard on the rooftops. Until now there hadn't been cause for concern about a repeat because Mallory had kept Canard at a distance, now he wasn't so sure. Seeing this only brought forth fresh feelings of hurt. Yes, he was still mad at Mallory but that didn't mean he didn't have feelings for her. On the contrary, he had every intention of mending their relationship so if Canard was going to be a problem, he would need to speak with him alone. He would observe their interaction before pulling Canard aside. He didn't want to jump to conclusions and accuse his bubby before having solid evidence to back his concerns.

Only time would tell.

….


End file.
